


Garrett & McClain's Day Off

by Teal_Rainbeau



Series: Voltron as inspired by 80s flicks [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Amusement Parks, Beach City, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Boys on a natural high, Canon compliant ages, College Bound Seniors, College Student Keith (Voltron), F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gay Keith (Voltron), High school Hunk and Lance, Hunay, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, James Griffin (Voltron) Being an Asshole, James Griffin Being Cool (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Light-Hearted, M/M, May be fast paced, Military Academy, Misadventures R Us, Music playlist included, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Hunk (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Playing Hooky, Pool & Billiards, Senioritis, Sick Lance (Voltron), Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Some random stuff happens, With A Twist, klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-08-26 11:35:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16680847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teal_Rainbeau/pseuds/Teal_Rainbeau
Summary: Update 7/30: Fixed tense shifts in Chapter 1. Hard to believe it's been nine months since I posted this fic! :')________________________________________________________________________________________Lance is home for the third day in a row on a Monday recovering from food poisoning. But as loneliness and boredom begin to set in, he accompanies childhood friend Hunk on a trip to a university 2 hours away from their home town.While in Santa Balmera county, they visit the campus where they meet a handsome 2nd year, and an opportunity for one crazy day.***Story is not rated, but has strong language and brief nudity**♬Spotify Playlist/Soundtrack ♬





	1. "They Bought It"

**Author's Note:**

> I finally got the guts to go ahead and upload a fanfiction for this show after being enthusiastic about it enough. Lol. This is my very first attempt, and I probably should have written a one-shot, but I was drawn to the idea of this and just started becoming invested in the writing process.  
> It was originally going to be a retooling of the classic movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", but instead will be very loosely based on this to keep the integrity of the movie.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to a polytechnic school may change plans for Lance and Hunk after meeting Sophomore Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a lot longer than it looked typing into Word!

“I’m just not ready to go back” Lance murmured through muted sounds. His eyes glossy with a malaise that only a mother could catch without him speaking on it. The tone of his voice keeping her from saying “No, you need to get up and go.” Instead, she rested both hands on his shoulders and leans in to kiss the top of his head. 

“Don’t force it,  _Lancito_. Stay for one more day if you must.” Her voice was like a sweet hum to him, and enveloped him like a thick comforter around his body. 

“But I’m supposed to be having near-perfect attendance.” He muttered softly, a slight strain in his voice.

But his older sister, Veronica was less like his mother’s comforter and more like a  _different_  type of heavy blanket at this moment. She aimed a look at him that made him feel a tingling sensation under his rear as though he were kicked there by phantom means, and guilt for not fighting harder despite having had a near-violent episode of food poisoning over the weekend. The spring quarter began last week. As an officer at the Garrison Military Charter, she was not having it. 

“You do this once a month. This is more than you being sick, it’s just senioritis.” the tone in her voice was curt, with a slight undercurrent of sympathy.

“Veronica, one more day is not going to hurt anyone.” After giving her sage wisdom, the matriarch gave everyone her love before going downstairs. 

After his sister watched her leave, she came back to Lance with a much softer look, “So, you’re really are still down for the count?” 

Lance finally turned around to face his sister, who was still standing in his doorway reluctantly. “I’ll try to get it together today, and then show up bright and early tomorrow, okay?” he offered with sorrow laced in his words. 

At last, she smiled warmly and turned on her heels “Fine. And not because you are a charmer, little bro. Oh and don’t eat at that ice cream place anymore, the health inspector marked it down to a ‘C’. Water temperatures aren’t consistent, and some soiled scoops have been lying out on the counter for hours at a time before they used them again.” 

What the hell? He was going to sue them for the damaging shit he went through! Trying not to think about that place, he held out his hand and returned his big sister’s fond smile.  She reached over to him and gave him an emphatic fist bump.

“Thanks for always having my back.” He muttered softly, yet genuinely.

“I still love you, peanut.” 

“Love you, too.” He cackled mockingly at her childhood nickname for him. At almost 19 years old, he was now at least a head above her standing up. 

With that, Veronica finally left his room, her rapid stair climb lowering in volume until the closing of the front door swept out the sound of her footsteps. But that wasn’t enough, he  _had_ to hear the engine start and fade miles from the driveway.   

After finally getting his way, he exhaled loudly and fell back on his pillow. 

It was a little before 7 in the morning before Lance found himself sitting on his side humming a small tune before getting ready for his day. The suns rays were creeping in, signaling that the time for the world to be sleeping was over. He still had some homework to do from Physics, just 2 problems that would take up half a page each. Big fun. And he needed to call attendance to tell the nice lady there that he was still sick from the weekend.

But first…

Beautification: that meant having his favorite mint-musk body wash on hand to start indulging in his 30-minute bath. With so much time to himself, he opted to wear his facial mask in the tub, just to get half of the regimen out of the way. 

So much silence thickening the air gave him much unsolicited time to think and reflect. Lots of young adults made goals, achieved those goals, then went on to the next goal. Science and math was his strongest suit, but he also had a flair for communications and he had been this way since the 3rd grade, and these days he just wanted to switch gears. Be a renegade before going out into the  _real world_. How ironic that he was forced to take a sick day from Garrison today. Some seniors were still taking a day or 2 off this week for last minute college visits, many of which happened this month. Good thing he got them all out the way over spring break. 

It was time to stop thinking about work, so he started crooning to himself. Something slow and retro he heard from the radio last night, and mid-note he yelped in response to a loud banging on the door.

“Lance, I have 15 minutes to get ready!” 

Rachel. He slumped his shoulders in annoyance, making a medium splash with his clenched fist and scowled. He forgot all about the time it took for her to get ready in the mornings. An hour, which is one of the things that they had in common aside from the same tall, slender build and respective good looks.

“Can’t you use the other bathroom?!”

“All my stuff is in  _there,_  Lance! Let me in!” her pleading carried the usual sibling indignance. 

He scoffed loudly and ducked out long enough just to unlock the bathroom door, jump back in, and ram the shower curtain shut. She was wearing a tank top and loose shorts with a silk house robe, and Lance had to do a double take to make sure that wasn’t  _his_ robe. She strutted straight to the counter and started scanning it with a scowl.

“Did you use my cleanser again?” 

“No, Rae. I used  _my_  cleanser!  _Your_  bottle was peeling, remember?!” He made sure the curtain was closed all the way as he waited for her to find what she was looking for. There was definitely Vaseline and  _maybe_ some shampoo that he borrowed one day… 

“Anyway, mama said for me to check up on you before I take off.” His twin still had her back turned away from the bath area despite the curtain separating them. 

“I’m good. Just the usual post-puking fatigue. Nothing a few vitamins, herbal tea, and couch rest can’t fix.”

“I guess you sound healthy enough…just stay away from dairy for a bit!” 

Well, yeah. Just  _thinking_  about grabbing another of that death trap’s waffle cones threatened to trigger a gag reflex. “Thanks, Rae.” 

Lance sighed with relief after the commotion of his twin gathering her shit ceased and followed with the door closing.  He couldn’t  _wait_  until they moved away from each other. Having the shower curtain closed made the room swelter like a sauna. It was either turn on the air and catch pneumonia, or ride with it and pretend to be at a spa. He squinted his eyes in suspicion over to the counter and exhaled when he saw the toothpaste and another item he didn’t care about were gone. A happy hum bounced from his lips.

~~~~

 _“Did you call the attendance office?”_ His best friend, Hunk was on a camera chat, a way for him to be invited to his little getting-his-shit-together wellness party.” 

 “Yeah, man. Covered all my bases. And if anything happens, Veronica’s already got my back.” He said matter-of-factly. “So, what’s your itinerary?” He bopped his head side to side, dancing to a Carly Rae Jepson song playing on one of his background apps. His body should have been fighting fatigue and not wanting to literally lift a finger, but he guessed his immune system got tougher with years of gymnastics, and upper core work he had done at Garrison. 

“ _I should be at the university for most of the day. I’m sitting in on a day class for their engineering program there.”_  

 “Can I come over?” 

_“You mean, over to my house?”_

“No, Hunk, over the rainbow. Of course I mean over your house.” 

 _“Right now? Aren’t you still fighting a food-borne stomach bomb?”_  

“Oh, I’m weak, but it’ll be alright as long as I don’t have to walk over there.” 

“ _Are you home alone?_ ” worry seeped into his voice. 

“Yeah, it’s just me. Mom and Veronica left for work, Rae finally took the car to school, so I’m gonna Uber in your direction.” 

 _“A warning, Lance. I’m only going to be over here for an hour more.”_  

“Count me there in 10!” He rushed up from the couch with gusto, then closed his eyes as he allowed himself to stand still waiting for the dizziness to subside. “Okay, make that 15.”

~~~~~~

“Mama said there’d be days like  _this_  one…” Hunk needed one missing ingredient for his famous Belgian waffles, and his mother must have used that for a stir fry last night. He was just going to grab a breakfast sandwich from the freezer, but company was on its way in the form of a certain tall, lanky best friend who probably should have stayed his ass at home and recovered.

Lance would be here in a few minutes even though Hunk nearly urged him to just wait and let him drive over to his house instead. He texted Lance to tell him that the door would be unlocked and to just stroll on in, like always. Hopefully he remembered to bring some baking powder…

“Lucy! I’m home!” a sing-song voice called from the front room. Lance was strolling to the kitchen, waving a small canister around, which meant that there would be breakfast for the both of them. Hunk probably should record “I Love Lucy” later this week… 

“Thanks a lot, man! Now for the candied pecans...” Wait, we ran out of those too.” he began searching his brain, unaware of his friend’s crestfallen pout. 

“Should I go to the store after all?!” Lance moaned and draped his long body over the kitchen island. 

“Wait, I lied, here they are!” 

“Yay.” 

It was the driest whoop that Hunk ever heard from the boy, and he leaned over him with concern in his eyes. 

His voice softly vibrated against the marble. “This counter top is pretty cozy, you should totally grab a pillow and blanket, and spend the night up here one night.”  

“You don’t have to come with, you know.” Hunk crossed his arms, and though Lance was facing away, he could feel his friend’s overprotective gaze burning a hole in his cranium.

“I’ll nap in the car! Won’t it take, like, 2 hours to drive up there? God willing traffic cooperates?” Lance could hear the refrigerator door open and close, then a rattle of plastic speed up and come to a stop near his ear. He looked up to see a very empty bottle of nothing. “Um, buddy. I’m not just going to take a swig of air to replace my nutrients. Unless you know something I don’t…” 

“Fill the bottle with water, add 1 tbsp lemon juice, a tsp of salt, and just enough honey to make it sweet.” Hunk looked at his friend’s not-so-amused, fatigued eyes, “Replaces electrolytes. My mom used to make it for me all the time when I was getting over the flu.” 

Judging by Hunk’s peppery disposition, it couldn’t hurt. Every ingredient in the Garrett’s pantry was organic, which meant super-foods galore. Lance set out to find the honey, that was…until the counter top's hard surface decided to dig into his skin. Nope, still too comfortable. So now he chose to remind himself that they would be using this surface to eat on. Finally, his body slipped down as he landed to his feet. He briefly recited the ingredient measurements long enough to type them in his phone. While he waited for the water from the refrigerator door to fill the bottle with about an inch from it, he started to ask Hunk a question about something and quickly forgot…

Cinnamon, combined with the toasty aroma of the pecans, just like spring mornings should be. Hunk opened the window and allowed the dewiness of the morning to glisten on his skin. Something about the crispness of it all made his skin vibrated with a welcome chill.  _Thank God_  that seniors were excused today for college tours, and today  _only_. He smiled thankfully with his hand cradling the large body of waffle syrup. 

“Still don’t think I should go?” Lance consulted while vigorously shaking the bottle of water, honey, salt, and lemon. He paused long enough for his tongue to salivate upon looking at his friend’s finished product. 

“Drink that first.” Hunk suggested. 

“Fine.” He whined. The potion tasted similar to God nectar. 

At the island there was a small stack of hot waffles for the two of them to binge on if they wanted to. Syrup in a small teacup, melted butter on another small tray. Whipped cream in a smaller serving dish. Lance made a mental face at the third item. Dairy probably wasn’t a great idea right now… 

“Hunk, I must say, you sure know how to create a brunch atmosphere”, he said excitedly as he forked a giant waffle. He knew he was pushing his luck with the syrup, and he didn’t care. His stomach was just going to keep growling in any case.

Hunk watched in fascination as he started gobbling up everything on his plate. “Hey, slow down, I’m not going anywhere yet.” 

“Let me come with you!” 

“No, Lance. You need to rest.” He said sternly. 

“Honestly, Hunk. You let me worry about my returning health, because your food is literally life right now.” He rolled his eyes in ecstasy with another bite. 

After breakfast, they were both cleaning up, and Lance felt less tired. But he still yearned for just a tad more pep in his step.

“You’re still going, huh?” 

“What did ya think? Staying at home is too boring” he slung his shoulder around Hunk’s large frame, mostly as a teeny bit of support, “and how can you resist  _my_ company? Would you have wanted it any other way?” 

“I gotta warn ya, we’ll probably be in the car for 2 hours and on foot for twice that long.” He looked at Lance’s high-tops with a grin of approval. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

The same 13 people showed up in this giant auditorium filled with 200 total seats, just like every other week. Even though this aerospace lecture met once every Monday, it was a 3-hour endurance. Among the scattered placing of scholars, a raven-haired young man was upright in his chair, sitting in the back row on the corner closest to the door’s exit. His head rested drearily on his hand as he struggled to whet his appetite for any of this monotonous, seemingly rote material. 

“So, when you begin to use this equation,  _N_  will always stand for something that represents velocity, in this case.”

“Shouldn’t it be V, then?” he muttered under his breath. He whispered to himself to just  _focus_  despite his thoughts barking and aggravating the dull ache already present in his temples.  Instead his eyes fell to his phone’s screen and fixated on the notification written. He rapidly punched in a few keys and slipped it in the pocket of his leather vest.

With a louder sigh than he planned on exhuming from his body, he eventually gathered his journal and pen, and rubbed his temple with his right hand while trying discreetly to leave. 

“I hope you understand that it is for your benefit to stay and listen. Miss a lecture like this one and I will  _not_ cover this again during office hours.” His legs locked up as the professor was leaning against her desk, with a peeved glare. It was almost hard for him to take such a mousy voice so seriously, and from a woman whose blazer hung off her body like an over-sized lampshade. 

But Keith swallowed out of genuine sorrow for being such a distraction. Then he remembered that while she was getting  _overpaid_  to drone on about nothing eye-opening, he was the one paying out of his own financial aid to sit there and listen to her monotone style. He could probably go to his older brother and absorb the essentials in less than a week! 

“Well, then please don’t stop on my account.” He responded, face stoic and arms hanging relaxed by his sides. He wasn’t in the mood to get into it with anyone, so he continued to the exit, ignoring the annoyance emitting in his sternum. 

Now he had time to make a phone call. 

“Yeah? I’m done for the day. No, I’m not staying for the rest of this term because I’m dropping the course.” He rolled his eyes. The voice on the other line was trying to get him to reconsider, but he wasn’t having any of it. “I’m not chancing my GPA for someone who won’t teach to save her damn life!” He ducked behind a wall to make sure his voice didn’t echo off the walls.

“I’ll call you back.” He frowned, and marched out of the building, echoes of his boots amplifying in the vacuum of the building’s silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 hour and 30 minutes later, Hunk and Lance managed to make it to the Balmera University with only minor traffic inconveniences. 

Hunk recalled with a bad taste in his mouth that within the first 5 minutes after getting on the on-ramp, Lance screamed a curse out the window at someone who inched their way in front of them without a signal, and then held up traffic by driving 10 miles below the flow of conditions. 

“I’m serious, that asshole must have dropped something in their seat or something! Like, wait until you get into a parking lot.” He threw up his hands wildly as he expressed his leftover frustration.

“Well, we’re here and that event is behind us, right? If I have to massage your shoulders in the middle of campus, I swear I will.” He warned him dryly. 

“Maybe later.” His voice dragged three octaves lower, knowing he would fall asleep on the spot if that happened. 

Lance secretly wondered why Hunk wanted to go to a private university and still commute from home. Seemed much more cost-effective to just live on campus.

But after the two of them attended an hour-long lecture about plate tectonics, Lance understood the enthusiasm, but not enough to refrain from making sketches on the back of a receipt he had in his cardigan pocket the remaining 30 minutes. Hunk remained upright with his laptop keys drumming at what had to be about 70 keys per minute. He shook his head, bobbing along to the young professor’s key words as if he were listening to a tempo that only he could understand and resonate with. At 10:30 a.m., it was over, and definitely the fastest hour ever spent in a classroom. 

“Amazing! I know that it’s going to be a bitch to commute here back and forth every day, but it’s so worth it!” Hunk was still just as awestruck, like he came from a screening of an academy award-nominated movie. Lance asked him if would go here should he be accepted, and his determined seriousness in his features told him everything. 

There was a slight hint of gardenia in the sky that morning. The atmosphere was warm and bright enough to wake up nature, but still cool and crisp to be wrapped up in mid-March freshness. The campus seemed somewhat empty during this time, with only a few scholars decorating what must have been the main courtyard. Others were standing around on the walkway, and there was another group somewhere else playing badminton. Lance could not tear his gaze from the game and noticed a few unaccompanied rackets on the lawn. 

Hunk didn’t have to open his mouth to ask what his friend was going to do. His eyes beamed with such an enthusiasm that Hunk silently pushed forward some of his own energy towards the group of the students, hoping that they would open up to Lance. Sometimes he could be such a  _kid_. 

“I’ll only play for, like, 10 minutes or so, is that okay?” 

“Okay, while you have fun, I’m going to find some grub for us.” He walked away with a smile as the group nodded and motioned for Lance to join them.

~~~~~~~~

Clouds became absent to make way for a bright blue sky, and the wind picked up just a little bit. Lance rested against a tree after deciding that he did not want to spend an extra 30 minutes needing a shower. His navy-blue cardigan was folded against a tree and he sniffed his white t-shirt discreetly for odor. Still good. His heart fluttered at most of the women sauntering around in mini-skirts and tight micro shorts. But his gaze would fall most gently on the ones who downplayed with sweatshirts, skinny jeans and sneakers. He appreciated a girl who could wear her wavy hair up in a ponytail with no make-up and still look gorgeous. One of the girls fitting the later description was one of their teammates. She stopped to come over and talk to him and brought the thumping in his chest back to a lively tempo. They chatted while she was giving him a stationary tour and asking him questions about classes. With a flush on his face, he mentioned truthfully that he was still finishing his senior year of military charter, but that he  _was_  18 years old. She was a very youthful 21-year-old. But they could still date? 

“Not with someone who can’t drink in public with me,” she said gingerly. 

He half opened his eyes and tilted his head with a seductive smirk, trying for another angle, “No private drinks?”

With a patronizing giggle, she called him ‘adorable’ and said, “I have class in 5 minutes, but maybe I’ll see you around?” 

“Yeah, maybe.” Lance knew that meant “not likely”. He pouted in sad acceptance as he watched her grab her bag and disappeared from view. His shoulders fell as he dragged himself off to meet Hunk at the outdoors dining tables. 

Hunk returned with two Styrofoam trays and a sizable brown box that looked like it could have pizza. He motioned towards a shaded area at a table under a tree. Hunk opened the box after giving them their Styrofoam boxes. 

“Who were you mingling with just now, she was pretty cute.” 

“Name was Ariel. And apparently thinks I’m too young to date the likes of her.” He folded his arms and rested into them, a discouraged squint in his blue eyes.

“Let me guess, upper class man, probably has her own apartment?” 

“I’m only, like-“ he threw up his fingers and mentally counted. “2 and-a-quarter years younger!” 

“And she’ll be in grad school by the time you’re her age, if not officially sucked into the real world.” 

“Or living back at home, which I could have made an  _excellent_  distraction!” he was staring out into the sky with a naughty smirk marking his face. 

“Or married! Face it, buddy, it probably wasn’t meant to be.”

“Who knows?” Maybe being done with high school would open up the path to his forever love, or so he hoped. He had some short-term success in high school. He made girls laugh, yet maybe that’s all he was good for past a month tops. He secretly considered dating guys, but many of them at school were way too macho and sensitive about their masculinity. And the homophobia…. 

“Hunk, buddy? What the hell?” he peered into the open pizza box and tilted his nose away into his hand. 

“It’s a poki pizza.” It was as saucy and cheesy as a regular pizza, but with… fish, pieces of random seafood, and…spicy mayo? So this was sushi pizza? Normally he appreciated a good seafood dish, but something about this made that unwarranted nausea return to the pit of his stomach today. He opened the Styrofoam box instead and sighed in relief at the very familiar boat of fries inside. 

Hunk flinched as he watched his features melt into a distrustful grimace. Getting French fries was a smart backup plan, he had to admit. Lance was an adventurous eater most days but had a toddler’s appetite on other days. 

“Sorry, man, but gastro senses are tingling, and they are saying ‘nope’, not today!” he breathed in a shallow manner. 

“Suit yourself.” One day post-food poisoning might have been a little ambitious. Which was why Hunk ordered a small pizza instead of their usual large to split. 

“Where’d you get that book?” Lance pointed out through a mouth full of fries. He spotted Hunk putting it away in his laptop bag. 

 “Oh, yeah. Some poor person must have dropped it in the food court. It was on the floor. I’ll have to return it to the nearest lost and found.” 

About ten minutes later, they went to the elevator, and Lance asked to see the book for some identifying marks like a name or a class professor. The penmanship was medium-sized, upright, and thick, with loops on every ‘g’ and ‘y’ It emitted an energy of calm and control.

“Whoever this is has pretty handwriting. They must be having a heart attack right about now.” 

The elevator froze to the second floor and opened its doors wide. A figure wearing a black leather hoodie with a red thermal came in and took his place in the corner. 

Lance’s stare followed him, and he flashed him a smile. The stranger glanced at him coolly then his eyes darted to the wall nearest to him. Lance noticed that he was fidgeting with his bag, fingers pulling the zipper to his messenger bag open and closed. 

“Are you-“ 

The man was out of the elevator just as quickly as he came in, jet black hair waving against his neck as he marched to the front desk. Lance opened the journal back up for some more clues. Something thick pressed against the next page of a hastily sketched model. Behind it was a school ID that said **Balmera University** with the logo of a Volcano, and a handsome mugshot of the young man wearing a mild smirk. _That_ was him!

“ _Nobody_  dropped off or retrieved any journals here?” They heard him pleading with the receptionist. His tone was formal, with a familiar cadence of someone on the verge of a mental breakdown. 

Hunk’s heart sank for this individual who clearly lost something important, was late for class, or both. It was time to act now, “What color was it?” 

“Red, about half an inch thick.” 

“It isn’t this, is it?” 

His mouth fell open, then his face went serious as Hunk gave it to him. “Thank you.” He continued back to the elevator with a look of “just business”, then stopped before he could press the button. He turned around like a soldier being dismissed from his duties and went back to the receptionist, ignoring the two boys completely. He spoke to her briefly, then stuffed his book in his inner vest pocket. 

After exchanging a very perplexed look with Hunk, Lance frowned, very unsatisfied with how cold this stranger was, and decided he was not finished with him. 

“Where are you going?” 

“To follow that ungrateful ragamuffin and see to it that he shows better gratitude than that!” 

“Raga-” Hunk shook his head, caught off guard by such an insult. “He thanked us, so let’s just allow him to stew in whatever he needs to stew in.” He knew Lance. Already loud enough, he became straight up outspoken when something bothered him. So, he followed the “boy on a mission”, who was huffing with his lips pursed tightly into a frown. 

Their little trip led them into a game room that was painted dark purple and aqua, several hang-out stations were situated in the rear half of the room, while taking a few steps down revealed a section with four pool tables, a pinball table, and some change machines.

“Heeyyyyyy!” Lance switched up from his confrontational flare and decided to wave flamboyantly to the young man while flashing his most charming smile. 

Notebook Guy screwed his face to an annoyed glare, tucking his lips in. “Can I help you?” 

“Well, you know…looks like you have a lot on your mind, judging by how you  **brushed**  off my friend who recovered “your precious!” 

“Lord of the Rings fan…” he muttered as he started chalking a pool stick. 

“One of my top 10’s by the way.” He was leaning against a panel that separated the pool area from the rest of the room and took his place as his audience member. He just realized that Notebook Guy was trying to shoo him away now. “So, umm, what’s your deal?” 

“Nothing that I’d talk to you about.” He bent over and broke the balls on the table without so much as a blink. 

But Lance was chuckling internally at this lone wolf playing pool by himself. “let me guess, you wanted to just practice by yourself, no date or friends? What kind of fun is that?” 

“I don’t need to have a social life to have fun with myself.” Lance let out a loud snicker, earning him another glare. Notebook Guy pushed the stick effortlessly into a solid ball, knocking 2 into their own side pockets. He was just about to make another move until Hunk caught up and started watching them. He mentally acknowledged him and continued playing. 

Hunk made mental notes in his brain looking at the 7 balls on the table. If this guy wanted to hit one of the ones in the corner pocket, that would leave him with 3 more balls that he could hit in the adjacent corner pockets with enough finesse. Lance glided over to where he was standing and was trying to follow his train of thought, Hunk could tell by the way he glanced at him with his chin resting under his hand and scanned the table. 

Notebook guy captured both of their glances and set off the very shot that Hunk was contemplating, a smirk coloring his face. Lance could hear him scoff playfully as he hit another ball in one by one, with no intention of stopping. Heard him pleasurably utter “not bad” under his breath. 

“Damn, he did it!” Hunk whooped. 

“Show off.” Lance muttered cross-armed with his back hunched. With his faux leather vest hoodie and his fingerless gloves, was he trying to channel his parent’s decade or something? Either way this guy  _knew_  he was hot shit, so _aware_  of his audience. Well he could shoot just as well as he could. By the time that the last ball went in, Lance  _knew_  he had to show this guy a thing or two. He swiped a stick from the wall and chalked it real good. “That’s it, Mr. Turbo Balls! I challenge you!” 

“Oh yeah?” there returned that cocky smirk again, the same one that was starting to rub on Lance like a peculiar massage. “Got a dollar?”

“Please.” Lance huffed his chest. “I can bet a LOT more than that, sir!” 

He deadpanned. “I mean it costs a dollar to play.” 

“Oh.” He found his hand behind his neck, feeling sheepish. “We need quarters, right?” 

“Right.”

“By the way, name’s Lance.” 

“Keith.” Mr. Notebook finally revealed with a much more rested face. He saw Lance smirking before heading towards the front desk. And your name?” he asked, facing Hunk. 

“Hunk.”

“Thanks a lot again for finding my journal." 

“Don’t mention it. And sorry about my friend, he just has a certain picture in mind of model behavior.”

“I didn’t mean to come off that way earlier. Just been having a real crappy morning.” His gaze was furrowed downward in unease with his arms folded tightly against his chest.

“Yeah, I get it.” Hunk looked at him in sympathy, then rose an eyebrow, “can I ask what year you are?”

“Finishing my second year.”

“Is college really as rigorous as they say it is?” Lance asked, coming back with quarters to put into the machine.

“When you’re majoring in Aeronautics, yes.”

Lance finished chalking his stick, interrupting the conversation. “Alright, are you ready to have your ass handed to you?”

Keith decided to let Lance break as a courtesy, then faced Hunk. “Be prepared to take his place after this game is over.” Keith shot back spiritedly. 

Hunk cheered for them both and gave some hints when solicited. Lance’s aim was spectacular, and Keith worked swiftly with the pressure of the stick on the ball. At the very end of the game, Keith had 1 solid left on the table, while Lance had one more stripe. Unfortunately, the high school senior lost by default of using the striped ball to knock in the 8 ball, which sent him retreating to a corner table to binge eat the pizza that Hunk saved from an hour ago.

“Rigged!” he muttered.

“Sorry, buddy. Don’t even try to blame this one on a ‘cheating computer’.” 

“Ha ha!” he responded sarcastically.

“Still a hell of a game though. Keith smiled at him. “We gotta do this again sometime.” 

“Yeah, we gotta.” Lance sighed and swallowed his hurt pride, returning his smile 

“You want some of this, Hunk?” Keith asked. 

Hunk reluctantly played Keith, and almost just as reluctantly beat him with 7 of Keith’s solid balls on the table. Where Keith’s weakness was in tunnel vision, Hunk made up for in force and aim.

“Well.” The raven-haired boy’s voice trailed off, unable to form a proper expression or gesture after Hunk’s landslide victory.

The three gathered to the table to take a snack break, eventually whipping out their phones as they finished off what little pizza there was between them.

“Hey, wasn’t there something school-related happening Downtown this week?”

“Our school was planning a parade back home to honor the 50th anniversary of the school now that I remember.” Hunk was contemplating something apprehensively, looking to Lance to jog his memory about something else he might have missed. 

“Well, let’s stay away from Downtown on the way home, in case we run into one of the officers there. Potentially James Griffin.” Lance’s mood deflated to annoyance once he mentioned their Junior officer’s name. Hunk though that James Griffin was kind of a hard ass, and Lance could not stand him. He mentally prepared himself for another one of his rants soon to come up in a moment. 

“Are you guys from a military school?” Keith inquired. 

“Are you familiar with a school called the Garrison Military Charter? It’s, like, 50 miles east from where we are now.” Hunk realized Keith’s slight surprise flashed in his eyes. “I guess you though we were freshman here, huh?”

All Keith could do was respond with “umm…”

But the other boy was so caught up in his own drama about Griffin and vocalizing “Yeah, but this guy is a pain! He would kiss the butt of a cigar if you gave him the chance!” 

Hunk allowed a snicker to escape from his throat. “What Lance is saying is that he brown-noses the senior officers there and is such a stickler for the rules. “

“He’s an asshole is what he is!” Lance recalled loudly the time that Griffin noticed him jogging instead of sprinting like the other cadets, then yelled at him for not responding with his last name. Or when Lance and a female cadet was accused of cheating on a math test in the beginning of the year (which he never did), and he tried to plead his case to the senior officers on the board. Griffin angrily defended the officers, asserting that” fraternizing” led up to it or something like that (Lance and the girl broke up amicably days later.)

Keith was staring at him with a scrutinizing stare and a slightly beleaguered pout, with Hunk rubbing his temples: cues to stop talking. “Okay, so you’ve gone to school here for a while, any fun stuff to do in the city this time of year? 

“Don’t have time to be anyone’s tour guide.” He folded his arms firmly. 

“You don’t have to escort us anywhere, Mr. I-can-have-fun-with-myself-without-a-social-life, or people, or pets, or a Club Penguin account-“ 

 “You made your point! God forbid you ever become a guest lecturer at this school!” He settled back into his seat and massaged his temples in a circular motion with his pointing and middle finger, clearly annoyed. “Maybe we could all use an escape.”

“Really? Because you really don’t have to.” Lance blinked a few times, anticipation flickering in his eyes.

“I’m sick of campus today, and you clearly need some fresh air.” He got up and pushed in his chair.

“Now we’re talking!” Lance bounced up, Keith’s backhanded comment flying over his head.

“No, Lance!”

“Oh, you’re no fun, Hunk! We have 2 hours, what are you worried about?”

“We need to be back at the car in 30 minutes! That’s not enough time to hit the freeway, and you know how packed it’s gonna be.” Hunk folded his arms as he watched Lance emit a whimper and tuck his hands into his pocket.

“But, Huuunnnnkkk!”

“Sorry, but no buts!”

Keith’s face melted into a serious one. “I understand. Better beat it before it beats you. Nice meeting you two.” Keith was about to stroll away, leaving Hunk cleaning up his own area while Lance was frantically scrolling his phone for more events in the area that would make the larger boy change his mind.

“What’s the matter?” Lance whispered to him.

“We can’t just hang out and travel Balmera County with someone we met less than 2 hours ago!”

“What about his ID? He’s clearly a student here, like a real scholar with a hunger for knowledge.” True…it was a little unordinary for a college kid to just invite high school seniors to hang out. But isn’t that what they would be doing in college? Mingling, expanding social horizons? 

Hunk was never one to trust strangers easily without knowing much more information about them, like where they lived, _who their family was, their blood type, their murder record, etc._ But Lance felt drawn to the guy with the mullet and the fit, grizzled body, maybe because of that beautiful smile of his. And Keith warmed up to them, too, in that hour they got to know each other.

Hunk received a look from his friend that was reminiscent of one of his nephews. Longing, with sad puppy eyes and with an eclectic mix of conviction and excitement. And just like with his nephews, he had to remain firm.

“You have two choices, McClain! Either we leave in 30 minutes, or you find yourself an Uber back home!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you reached this part of the page, thank you so much for giving this fic a chance, and I do welcome any well-meaning feedback! If enough people read this, I'll release a chapter 2.


	2. "Snooty?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to the front of the line of a VR Arcade is a piece of cake for these boys. Sneaking into a fancy restaurant, not so much. A college try might be just the thing that they need....  
> Elsewhere, Griffin get stranded at the BX and hitches a ride to Olkari City from an unexpected Samaritan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Note: I did some rearranging and adding on Ch. 1 to eliminate plot holes and proofreading errors ;)
> 
> I'm pretty happy with how this chapter came out because I did a LOT more editing this time. The read-aloud function in Word is so much fun to use, and so useful for diction purposes and story-time treats.  
> Hope you guys enjoy!

The last time that Hunk consistently followed the straight and narrow was literally 8 years ago. That all changed when he met Lance, the boy who could have him changing his mind about staying in a bowling alley after curfew, or _lying to his parents_ about anything, really. His friend wasn’t unethical or had bad intentions by any means; just so adventurous to where they would both lose track of time and perspective.

There was also that one day freshman year when the two of them took 3 buses to the beach, with just a five-dollar bill for a day pass that got each of them on straight shots to their destination. The sun saturated the earth that day, bringing out the rich hues, toasted and quenched on that beach. It was a good day and got better once the hornets buzzing in Hunk’s abdomen finally died down…

Hunk sighed, returning to the present, his gaze to the long snake of traffic eating its way toward the main roads. College traffic was really a pain, even at 1 in the afternoon, probably from the out-of-town visitors

Hunk should have known that there was no saying “no” to Lance. There was a certain way that his eyes would glimmer with a curious innocence behind the mischievous smirk that the other boy could not, in good conscience, deny.

So instead of chasing patience on the way back to their hometown, they were here in Hunk’s car making a trip to some unknown destination. All because his friend couldn’t resist the aura of this college boy named Keith. Or maybe a detour wouldn’t be such a bad idea? It couldn’t hurt to stop worrying for a day.

The feminine voice of the navigation directed them to turn right on a street, then continue straight ahead. Traffic was a lot more sporadic now that they were out of college campus territory, despite the bustle of the city. Hunk found it refreshing to be in the rapid flow, but Lance complained every time the signal of the green light prevented him from swallowing his seltzer properly. At one point, he choked on a piece of ice, ruffling the nerves of both Hunk and Keith.

“Guess I’ll have to finish this off later!”

“Are you still nauseous?” Keith asked him.

“No, I’m feeling better.”

“What made you finish off that pizza, anyway?” Earlier after they had left the Commons area, Hunk froze as Lance rushed to a nearest outdoor trash can gagging, but realized it was a false alarm, thank God.

“I’m lactose intolerant myself.” Keith told him.

“He’s not lactose intolerant, just forgot about his sensitive system. Something he ate over the weekend.”

“What brought it about?”

“A two-scoop sundae.” Lance leaned his cheek tiredly into his fist.

Keith narrowed his eyes. “Right…and you’re sure that’s _not_ an allergy?

“Nope, just shitty food handler practices.” He answered, sipping some more of his seltzer.

“I guess everyone’s getting back to work right now.” Hunk said, eyes fixed on the road ahead.

“Yeah, traffic’s usually really good this time of day.” Keith uttered while spotting their next turn out the passenger window. “Make a right.”

“Hey, Hunk? Do we really need this lady telling us where to go anymore? Sound like this guy knows a shortcut.” Lance said, motioning to Keith with his thumb.

Hunk’s fingers rushed to his phone and immediately swiped just before the light turned green.

They were now 5 miles away from the campus and heading into an area that was partly urban sprawl, yet decorated with an essence of upper class novelty. A colorful array of roofs supported freshly painted businesses, and rich hues of floral arrangements swept around the buildings in wide flower beds. The setting reminded Hunk and Lance of something from a Hayao Miyazaki movie, that one with the young witch and a delivery service.  

The building they were visiting was gold and dark grey. A large scaled sculpture of VR goggles peered down at the parking lot from the second story perch.

Keith explained that a friend of his brought him here with her older brother. They once spent $15 each to get in for general admission, but his college ID brought that down by about $5. She would have been pissed to know he was here without her. Her name was Katie, and she went to a high school about 10 miles from the college campus.

“Why’d you leave her out?” Lance asked.

“Because she’s only 15, and her parents were already fined over her being truant.”

“So, she pretty much wishes school wasn’t a thing, like the rest of us?” Hunk asked out of pure curiosity.

“Once took an Uber to my dorm and tried to get me to hang out with her on a school day. But her parents called _me_ , and I wasn’t going to lie…”

“What? Did they suspect you might have kidnapped their little angel?” Lance looked at him as if fishing for more information. “Because, no offense, but you kinda fit the profile.”

“How?” Keith challenged, not convinced that this wasn’t an insult coming.”

“Well, let’s start with the gloves. Unless you ride motorbikes, that is just suspect.”

“Yeah? That’s funny, because _you_ fit the profile of someone who would get gagged, taken for ransom, and then returned because of your motor _mouth_.”

“Ooohhh! Sorry, 10 points for Keith on this one.”

“Whose side are you on, buddy?” Lance folded his arms with a diagonal pout. Betrayed and roasted in the same minute, how rude!

~~~~~

 _Nothing_ was _ever_ free entry. Nothing. Today must have been their lucky day.

Turns out that at 1:30 p.m there would be a long line decorated with college students and classrooms of smaller children on a field trip.

Lance was on his tip toes trying to gauge the amount of time that each transaction took per person at the ticket booth. At this rate, maybe they could get in with an hour to spare.

“We’re actually lucky today,” Keith mentioned. “I hear that it takes, like, twice as long to get in on a weekend. It’s Monday, so we have that on our side”.

Hunk pointed to the ticket booth, they were only 9 feet away now vs. 10 feet five minutes ago. “Lines moving kinda slowly. Any of you guys feel like killing time?”

“You mean, like with I-spy?” Lance scratched his cheek, trying to dream up something difficult. “I spy something that’s the color pink.”

“The girl in the dress.” Hunk and Keith both pointed out dryly, snickering at each other. Lance arched his neck down, feeling like a sad sap. “What? You don’t think that dress is sexy?” The dress in question started with a sheer bodice, the rest flaring out in a Gothic Lolita-styled petticoat and taffeta combination.

“My turn.” Keith volunteered.

“Let me guess, you spy something with piercings and long nails?”

“No.” Keith deadpanned. “I spy something that is 3 ft tall.”

“Lance’s ego?” Hunk mocked.

“Shut up!” Lance bit sharply, his face red with embarrassment.

The three of them were snapped into the gravity of a scenario where someone up front farted very loudly, causing the first half of the long line to scatter to the far left, people covering their noses with their hands and shirts. A group of elementary kids were wailing, and some were giggling and pointing at a poor sap who was hiding their face in their T-shirt.

Hunk heard someone muttered a large, obnoxious “wow”.

Lance just marched ahead with his hands nestled in his pockets and a determined smirk on his lips. “Onward, gentlemen! “He reached his hand out of his pocket and revealed a palm-sized cologne. He casually spritzed enough minty musk to where it neutralized any offensive odors in the air. Keith shot Hunk a look, who was looking ahead trusting Lance. Despite several people up ahead, none of those bothered to reclaim their place in line, therefore did not bother to complain when the three men walked forward instead. Cheers and whoops erupted from the back of the line.

“Beats the hell out of staying in line for 30 more minutes, huh?” He flashed a cocky smirk.

“How do you even…” Keith began, but the boy asked him and Hunk to give him a minute. He went over to talk to the young boy whose classmates were making fun of him. Keith could overhear Lance’s tone mellow to one of comfort. The kid was still concealing himself in his T-shirt, but Lance rested his hand on his shoulder anyway.

“It’s a natural thing that happens to the best of us at the worst times, _right kids_?” he smiled at the boy, then grinned at the other kids, which a narrow gaze that said “now behave”. Their teacher pressed her hands in prayer at the lanky boy, mouthing words of gratitude.

_“He kinda reminds me of my big brother.”_

_“He’s cute.”_ Little girl giggles simmered from the class.

 “Okay, so where were we?” Lance came strolling aside Hunk and Keith with his hands in his pockets. The dark-haired guy glanced fondly at the Cuban before walking in.

Hunk really felt that Lance should be a teacher after college.

Inside were several stations, most of them lined up against walls to make way for people coming in to get a good look. At first glance it appeared to be a bunch of panels separating stations of machinery, but upon looking more closely, arcade classics, and displays with fun-looking graphics. Women were dressed in server’s gear with passed food items on a tray.

“Well, where do you guys wanna start?” Hunk crossed his arms and scanned the general setting from left to right.

Keith walked a few steps ahead of them, getting ready to explain the layout of the place. “You see all of those booths? Each one of them has a different setting for different games. Some are interactive, and others are just experiences. For example, if you wanna get the sensation of being in a rollercoaster, you can go to that one…

Hunk’s stomach lurched. Last time he tried a _real-life_ rollercoaster, he was seeing spots and fighting back vomiting.  “I’ll be skipping _that_ one.”

“So, we just go and try on goggles based on what fantasy we most prefer?” Lance averted his eyes, trying not to feel underwhelmed.

“Trust me, you can’t get _this_ immersive from the best goggles you find online.” Keith went ahead and chose a booth with a display that looked like a space fighter simulator.

“I think we should try that one together.” Hunk motioned excitedly to what looked like an immersive fighting game. There was a character on screen wearing a Karate Gi, with another in spandex and high-heeled boots.

“Wait a minute...” A game station stopped Lance wide-eyed.

“It _does_ look like “Fighter’s Flame”!”

Lance jumped on his toes with a playful boxer’s stance “You owed me a rematch, remember?”

“Let’s get it!”

Yet another semi-long line. There were 10 people ahead of them.

“When we get up here, your ass is mine.” Lance whispered with a raspy tint.

Hunk reluctantly registered the chills climbing in his brain. “As much as I appreciate a good ASMR tingle, I would’ve preferred the voice of a fairy goddess, her earthy doe eyes staring into my soul.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” 

~~~~~

Back at the Garrison Community School Attendance Office, the computer screen scrolled down with names of absent students. Not even a fraction of the students who decided to call in absent today.

“What’s going on here? Didn’t these kids learn anything about time management?” Principal Iverson sighed heavily, while rubbing his chin roughly.

According to the database, there were at least 100 seniors absent today on the 2nd Monday of the Spring Quarter. Personally, Veronica felt that they were all “ditching”, but said:

“Must be fulfilling appointments, sir. I know my little brother’s friend was set to go out of town today to attend a tour.

“What is this young man’s name?”

“Hunk Garrett.”

They both knew his attendance record was exemplary. _Just keep him away from Lance,_ Veronica sneered mentally.

“We were not born yesterday. _Senior Ditch Day_ does not work here at Garrison.” The older man’s voice trailed off as his fingers fired off on the computer keypad. It wasn’t all negative, there were also small stars next to student’s name signifying those that were excused to set up for the parade celebration tonight.

“McClain, you go ahead and meet up with the volunteers. We might need more supervision from the outsiders who might be up to no good.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And officer Griffin will be meeting with you in 0400 hours, correct?”

“Affirmative. Until later, Commander Iverson.” As she was getting ready to leave the office, Iverson stopped her once more.

 “Sir?”

“Let’s hope that brother of yours gets well soon. He works hard, but his attendance has thrown him off in the past.”

“Understood”.

Outside of the wide hallways, A couple of younger cadets were running and nearly bumped Officer James Griffin into a wall. A simple raise of his voice sent the two crawling to a timid step.

“Is there something you need to ask me?” He fired a glare at a boy who was leaning against the lockers, the boy returning his own look of contempt when the officer had his back turned.

Mondays. He could stomach them to an extent, until he remembered the extent of his duties for the celebration this evening. Babysitting, that’s what his part-time job should have been. But HR called it “Duty Team Member”. Which meant that cadets who thought for one minute that they could forget their community at Garrison would have a serious wake-up call, **with a demerit and an essay on proper community etiquette.**

“Iverson’s expecting you to be at the city square in 0400 hours. No prior engagements, right?”

“Wouldn’t think of it.” The younger officer told her.

They found their way out into the front courtyard, waiting until there was no one around, and then began to discuss the plan for arrival.

Veronica would leave right away to assure no funny business on her watch, while Griffin chose to make a run to the BX and pick up a drink shipment for tonight’s fundraiser. She would drop him off at the store and then go out to the path there.

4 giant cases of water and several dozen bottles of sodas later, Griffin found himself waiting 20 minutes for one of the School carpools to come and gather the cargo. As the Jeep came, he breathed a sigh of relief, always eager to move on to the next task.

These were cadets, some of the more responsible ones who could always demonstrate excellence. A larger boy tossed the waters in the back gingerly, then nodded happily while the girl began rolling the sodas playfully like they were manipulating a carnival game.

“That’s enough, you two! Now let’s go!”

They saluted him, then jogged to the truck and got ready to drive off before making sure both doors were closed and locked. The vehicle spun off in a quicksilver glide, then went towards the road onto the onramp.

“Come back!” He screamed fruitlessly. The junior officer watched out into the road with a panicked longing as the Jeep disappeared into the sea of freeway traffic. He quickly dialed the number to… “Shit!” he did not have any of their damn numbers. But maybe the Garrison…

In the distance was a rapid, faded beat of house music. He chose to drown it out in his frustration to find another ride.

The car playing the music pulled in swiftly, then backed up just a little bit to straighten up.

Inside, Rachal paused for a moment as the electronica ended, then another of her favorite dance hits captured her attention. She began serenading and swimming with her head back and forth in a rhythmic wave. Okay, it was time to get out of this car before her body decided to fuse and become one with the chair itself.

She counted her mental list out loud with her fingers, sliding on her hexagram-shaped shades and sauntering towards the stores entrance.

Griffin looked up momentarily after sending his 3rd message to Garrison to see the girl walking by, and he realized that she looked like _somebody_ he couldn’t pinpoint…

20 minutes later, it hit him.

“Excuse me, miss.”

She turned to look at him, waist-length, dark hair curtaining her slim shoulders. She removed her shades, revealing those uncanny blue orbs with much longer, blacker lashes. This was _McClain’s_ sister, it had to be.

“I’m kinda busy, can we make this quick?”

“Is your sister Veronica McClain?”

“Yeah.” She answered earnestly.

“And your brother named Lance?”

“Is everything alright with those two?” Her brows turned downward.

James tilted his head forward with a scrutinizing frown. “Should there be a reason for me to _believe_ that there isn’t?”

“Umm, hardly. Go on.” She folded her arms and straightened up.

He did the same and dropped his arms by his sides. “Do you have time to spare? It’s a huge favor, but I will reward you handsomely.”

“I’m listening.”

“My name is James Griffin, and I’m a junior officer at Garrison. Your name was…

“Rachal. I’m Lance’s twin sister.”

“There’s a school-sponsored event going on an hour from here, you’re aware of that, right?”

“Yeah, the parade.”

“Can you please take us to Olkari city?”

The girl sighed softly. So much for bonding time with her brother: She closed the bag of popcorn and chocolates and motioned for James to follow her. “I might as well meet up with Ronnie anyway.”

“Thank you!” He threw back his head and exhaled.

Rachal walked over to her driver’s side and recoiled when Griffin scurried over to open the door for her. Boys _never_ did that at her school. She murmured a quick thanks to him.

“You’re welcome.”

She sat down and typed a quick message to Lance, who she believed was still sick at home.

_One of the Junior officers at your school got left @ BX. Dropping him off and coming right back. Movie night, don’t pick any violent shit._

“Seatbelts.” The Garrison officer spoke, settled in his seat with his arms crossed sternly.

She tossed him a glower as she put the gear into reverse. “Umm, I already know all about vehicle safety, thank you very much!”

“Good.”

The car pulled out of the parking lot, almost hitting a vehicle that sped through without awareness.

“Ugh! Prick!” Rachel yelled to the man in the car, who did not notice the pissed off teen girl.

James pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled softly. This was going to be a long trip.

~~~~~

For the next 5 minutes or so, Lance and Hunk finally made it to “Fighter’s Flame”. Hunk decided to pick the Capoeira fighter, while Lance chose the sexy ninja assassin with a mini dress and heels. Hunk knew there was no way that his opponent could withstand his kicks. In Lance’s defense, he mastered her moves the most and felt like she was very swift in battle.

The characters demonstrated themselves on screen based on the movements that the two boys made. They were both wearing the VR headsets with special equipment attached to their bodies.

“Ready to lose?” Hunk taunted.

“Only if you’re ready to give up on winning!” Lance roared out.

No joke, the game was much more involving than at first glance. Their arm and leg movements corresponded to basic kicks and punches, but any special moves would have to be programmed by certain button combinations on the joypad.

“Looks like your legs are giving out Hunk, old buddy, old pal!”

“Is there a puppet dangling your limbs, McClain?”

They were getting more exercise than they anticipated. But only as much as playing a Wii would allow, minus the TV.

Keith was deeply enthralled with his simulator and forgot for a moment that there were two other boys with him. He could feel the turbulence in his chest as the simulated plane barrel somersaulted through the quiet atmosphere. Clouds began to flicker into view until there was a lightning storm. He was back on Earth. But the same greenery below them was zooming in closer and closer. Why couldn’t he pull up? Upon impact, he gasped loudly. In the darkest red letters: **Game Over, Next Person Please**.

It was wild how far stuff like this had come. He peeled the goggles off and ran a finger through his front bangs and neck-length hair. What were his new friends up to? Did they enjoy the place? He noticed Lance’s eyes appearing pensive when they first stepped in…

“Yeah, baby!”

The voice came from the left, on the other side of the panel. He _had_ to see this, especially if Hunk was sounding like a victor over there.

“Alright, tie breaker!” a high-pitched female voice consumed the scene.

Keith started watching them, eyes fixated on their movements and on the health bars for each of them. The Dancing fighter took a big chunk out of the Ninja chick’s energy bar. But the Ninja chick came back and used her invisible dash move, taking about a quarter of his energy in return. The remaining 2 minutes of the fight trudged on tensely when the characters resorted to blocking each other’s attacks. By then a small crowd was forming, some betting on one or the other for the win. Somehow, despite dancing martial artist blocking, he forgot to crouch, and ninja girl found an opening by hitting his legs and taking the victory. Hunk groaned out in frustration, Lance screamed a whoop while dropping to his knees in relief.

People were murmuring how impressive they were and began clapping. Soon they moved on and the next two people were allowed to play.

“Aww, man! That was intense.” Hunk helped his friend up and they both shook hands and hugged it out.

“Where have you been, Mr. Shadow man?” the slim boy asked Keith excitedly.

“Flying the coolest Space Plane. I was gonna go again until I heard you two. Must have that game at home, huh?”

“Yeah, but this was sooo lit!” Lance beamed, still on his natural high from gaming. “A giant “thanks” for introducing us to this place!”

Keith smiled casually. “You’re welcome.”

The three stuck together and tried out maybe 3 more VR simulators, including a creepy one with a haunted house and having to stay away from a possessed doll. Hunk screamed at some point and attempted to push the “doll” out of the way. He blindly shoved one of the cute game attendants into the Cuban boy, eliciting a gasp from Keith.

“It’s okay.” Lance cooed softly to the girl in his arms. “I won’t let any harm come from being scared half out of our asses.” His eyes wandered upward in small embarrassment “’scuse my language.”

“You’re up, sir.” The attendant gently shoved Lance away.

“No thanks.” Keith answered quickly. He stepped aside and allowed the next person to go.  

“She wants me.” Lance was hugging himself, a berry shade spread through his cheeks.

“Not with that attitude.” The mullet man said.

“What? Gotta speak up!” Lance’s dreamy look hardened into an angry stare.

“Not _you_ , _her.”_

“Oh.”

Hunk suddenly smiled like a child with the biggest secret to tell once the two of them stopped fighting. “Alright, so Lance and I agreed that the loser has to buy dessert for the winner, and of course that means decadence. We could always go back home and I’d whip up some lemon squares, but I guess a fancy shmancy restaurant will have to do.”  He waved his hand as if conceding culinary defeat.

“Can’t wait.”

~~~~~

Griffin probably would have made a mistake asking Rachal McClain to drive him through Garrison Valley under normal circumstances. It was an inconvenience riding with a girl whose idea of driving was going 10 miles over the speeding limit and singing along to that fast motion, nerve wracking music with the vocalists who sounded like tipsy cats. The only consolation was that she was an ace on the freeway.

“You okay over there, _Officer_ Griffin?” He could have sworn she asked that for the sole purpose of taunting him.

“No, not really.”

“Well, open some windows or something.” It was true that she had a guest in her car, but Rachal had no intentions of jumping into her shell just because this guy had a tree stump in his ass. But when she glanced over at him on the red light, something seemed genuinely bothersome to him. His steely gaze was averted from the window, eyes glued intensely ahead of them. She turned her music down to a few decibels and softened her tone.

“Is this better?”

“A little bit.”

Compromising made her hungry. “Wish I had a package of cookies or something…wait!” She swiftly unsnapped her seat belt and began twisting to reach her grocery bag in the back seat.

“What the hell?” James cried out, hand on the steering wheel just in case.

“Let me know when the light turns! Her hand groped for the bag of chocolates in the back seat, nails scratching across the packaging just enough to pinch and grab.

“RED!”

Rachal was startled by the man’s sudden shriek and dropped her foot swiftly on the petal. The car in front barely moved, neither did the green bug in the back. Traffic moved smoothly overall. And his outburst was _so_ extra.

“Has your girlfriend ever treated you to a massage, or a spa date? Or maybe even acupuncture?”

“First of all, I don’t have a girlfriend.” For some reason, he immediately regretted those words. “Never mind.” A shiny, purple wrapper with gold trimming glided into his line of sight, held between long, burgundy-tinted fingernails.

“You probably might want to eat this slowly. Very, very slowly.”

The officer puffed air angrily through his nose and seized it like it was an insect clamoring for his attention. He muttered a “thanks” and stashed it in his pocket for later.

~~~~~~

The restaurant that Hunk became curious about took them further into the cosmopolitan area of Santa Balmera, near the beach. In order to save some mileage while getting the most of their walk, Keith suggested that they parked in the hospital parking lot right across the street. They were going to hell for stealing a spot from a family who needed it, Lance asserted.

The three of them found themselves staring in awe at Santa Balmera’s beautiful ocean lining. Only 10 minutes away, the body of water was a welcome sight, pristine sunlight sprinkling it with its luminescence. Temperatures were reaching peak warmth now that it was mid-afternoon.

The city was a place bustling with smiling residents and a few thousand tourists. Shops lined each city block, and unlike the village quaintness of their last destination, this area had a more uptown feel to it. Most buildings were constructed glass and stood up to 100 feet tall. Jeweled tones of the rainbow were strewn and scattered underneath the prominent color palette of silver and black. The aroma of cakes baking mixed and mingled with the dominant undertone of sea breeze.

Le Petit Chateau. Or “The Small Castle”, was nestled between a women’s boutique and a large sitting plaza. The letters of the restaurant had Curlicue font laced in silver and gold.  

“Snazzy.” Lance marveled.

“I…feel underdressed.” Keith missed his vest hoodie and gloves sitting in the back seat of the car as a result of a temperature spike. He felt more vulnerable than he cared to admit with just his fitted red thermal and dark blue skinny jeans.

As long as no one looked at these Converse high tops paired with his outfit, Lance could fit in just fine. He brushed off some lint from his cardigan and snuck a look at Keith, wishing the man would stop fussing around with his mullet so much. Something about the way such a casual top hugged his broad shoulders and small waist blinded him to any wrong doing in his book.

Hunk looked in the mirror at his loose yellow short-sleeved button-down and black khaki pants, hoping he could pull this off, and decided he was better off not worrying about it.

They finally decided to “men up” and just go in.

The three became wide-eyed and captivated by the understated, yet ornate surroundings of the entrance. There were mirrors on each side, and the restaurant dining area opened up to wide, airy spaces despite the dozens of chairs and tables in the room. Walls were dressed in a bright, yet elegant gold hue, with large mirrors covering volumes of surface area. It all made the room even larger than it already was.

Check out the ‘stache on that maître d.” Lance hacked up a laugh under his breath while finding his eyes on a staff member with a mustache that could dust surfaces with its fluffiness.

“Bad idea teasing him like that, Lance. You don’t want him begging the cooks to add a mysterious, sinister touch of their original recipe to our sweets, do you?” Hunk warned.

Meanwhile Keith’s became fixated on a large water tank, which was housing dozens of full-sized lobsters. “Why would they steam an animal like that…” Keith folded his arms and pouted quietly while trying to conceal a dot of sadness. Lance looked at the boy with a question in his twisted mouth and softened eyes “Hey, you okay?”

A gentleman uttered tartly “There is a greasy burger joint right around the corner, and if you turn right-”

Keith’s nostrils flared as he exhaled “What are you insinuating?” to the same mustachioed gentleman who was now at the front desk eyeing the young men like they were vagabonds. And he turned out to be the front desk staff if not the _owner_. He was a man with golden blonde hair whipped in an obnoxiously stiff pompadour and wore a quarter-length tuxedo, tied together with a 19th century style scarf. He looked like something that Lance had seen in a movie that played at midnight once on cable. Less _French_ , and more _Wild West_. Where was his pistol and star badge?

“Did you get permission from your parental units before you decided to skip around in here?”

“Whoa whoa! I’ll have you know that my friends and I are a lot older than we look! 20 years from now, we’ll all be part of People’s most handsome DILFs.”

“What’s a DILF?” Hunk asked innocently.

“You know, like _MILFs?_ His friend continued to eye him blankly, waiting for an answer to fall out of him like a gumball out of a machine. He raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Mothers I’d like to-.”

Keith edged past him casually while sneaking a sharp pinch on the back of his arm. Ignoring his protests of pain, he walked up to the snobby bastard and said, “We made a reservation earlier, you would know because were-“

On Keith’s left, a plant slowly tipped over, its leaves bouncing with a _crunch_ as it spilled dirt onto the freshly shampooed carpet. The man gasped and rushed away stiffly, yet swiftly to fix the mistake. “Don’t move.” He rolled his eyes at them menacingly.

“Wow. Heavy plant.” Keith peered over the desk nonchalantly, then fell back on his heels with his arms now resting by his sides.

“ _Don’t move.”_ Lance mocked his shitty French accent with his eyes rolling and shoulders stiffened.  And he was not blind to Keith’s foot conveniently kicking said plant over.

“Guys,” Hunk began with his eyebrows turned downward. “Let’s just forget this whole thing, we could just-”

“What? Go to some ‘greasy burger stand’?” Keith crunched his fingers using quotation signs.” Not a chance, management needs to know about this asshole!”

“And what if management decides to take his side!” Hunk bit his finger nervously.

Both Keith and Lance stared daggers at the asshole who was talking to the custodian. “Then we ask our fellow lobsters here to be our witnesses and tell their side of the story!” Lance leaned against the tank with a cool cross of his legs.

“Yeah, I’m with Lance. Wait, what the actual fuck?!” Keith’s gaze softened from determination to narrow-eyed embarrassment for seriously entertaining Lance like that.

“It _is_ exclusive, guys. And besides, we’re supposed to be here in Santa Balmera county on a college tour, not painting the town!”

But they _were_ painting the town, and they _were_ having a ball and bonding like dudes. Hunk was caught up in the energy of it and decided to take a risk, and maybe he did run into a hiccup.

”We should just forget about it before we catch a lawsuit with whoever the owner is.” Hunk whispered upon seeing a member of the restaurants staff passing by.

“And let Cogsworth’s evil, dastardly twin talk to us like we’re _children?_ ” We are 18 and over, that makes us adults!

Instead of joining in the argument, the older member of their trio ironically walked to the booth and snapped a quick picture, then typed with his wicked flash thumbs. Lance and Hunk’s phones vibrated in their pockets. They answered their texts almost at the same time.

“What the hell are these?” Lance waved the phone in confusion at Keith’s strange snapshot. Was this a piece of paper written in French?

“Use that phony accent of yours and tell him that we are VIPS. These are our names of those who were on the cancellation list.”

“Okay, and who am I impersonating?”

“Just make up a name already!” Keith hissed. “Something that sounds French!”

Hunk was peering around the corner with his jaw clenched and his eyes dotted with panic. “He’s almost done talking to whoever he’s talking to, guys. We need to act fast”

“Just go!” Keith urged with an aura of cool.  Lance ran outside and began dialing the number that was written on the picture. Meanwhile, Hunk and Keith watched as the jerk picked up the phone and started talking.

“ _Your name is Mr. Gaston Lefoux? With an “X” at the end...and your esteemed guests are…_

Once he was done reading the names and ending the phone call, the sour gentleman straightened his jacket and began to speak. “My apologies for this sore inconvenience gentlemen. I shall get you the best table at no additional charge.”

“Thank you, sir. All is forgiven.” Hunk suddenly strolled with his back straight and his head held high. He looked behind him where Lance was rushing in from his stunt.

“Gaston Lefoux? Really?” Keith whispered to “Mr. Lefoux”, unamused.

“So? I love “Beauty and the Beast”, which also happens to have some _beautiful_ French names!” Lance raised a brow at him like he deserved more gratitude.

Not even a minute later they were at a table surrounded by other guests, but on an elevated VIP styled stage situated against the wall. It was somewhat more exclusive from where most patrons were eating. A gentle harp seeped into the atmosphere, it’s tune slow and jovial. After five minutes of scratching their heads at a very foreign menu, they went through with the original plan of ordering desserts. Hunk and Lance split French Macaroons, and Keith asked for Chocolate Liqueur Lava Cakes.

Lance must have finished off 3 of those cookies, which were the size of his balled fist. Hunk wasn’t that much far behind him, though. And Keith appeared to be in a state of bliss, the effects of the cocoa in his lidded eyes.

“What did I tell you guys?” Hunk murmured in bliss.

“So fucking worth it.” Keith sighed, half-slurring from overindulgence.

“I must say, Hunk. You might have helped me pick out my birthday venue.” Lance huffed through a stuffed belly with glee in his voice.

“Too bad you would get busted if they ever saw your face in here again.” Keith said matter-of-factly.

“Please don’t kill my sugar vibes.” Hunk whined.

“Does that stuff have alcohol in it?” Lance squinted at what was left of the college boy’s lava cake.

“Maybe.”

“Are you even old enough to drink?”

“According to my ID, yeah.” Keith maintained.

The original bill: They would never know because of an “inconvenience oversight”

The final bill: Only $20 from each of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The restaurant scene was a direct nod to the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (if you have not seen that movie, I highly recommend it! Also, Hunk's daydream will come into play much later in the story for sure.  
> Above all, I had a ball dreaming up these scenarios for these guys.  
> Thanks so much to users and guests who gave this story kudos and a bookmark!


	3. "You Could Miss It"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping is a great way to burn excess sugar for Lance and Hunk...kind of. Hunk also reveals a crush from his past.  
> Elsewhere, Rachal and Griffin begin to bond over their delayed arrival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself that I was going to finish this chapter just before Season 8 hits this Friday (which is coming way too damn fast by the way.)
> 
> You can visit my Tumblr page @tealrainbeau.tumblr.com if you want to stop by and say hi, and/or look at some of the random madness that I've posted and gathered.

Neither Hunk nor Lance had come down from their sugar high, especially Lance who seemed to be firing off conversation topics at lightning speed. He wanted to look at the clothing boutique next door, then at the jewelry store right around the corner. He feathered in something about wanting to see the coolest aquarium and the fastest rollercoaster that he and his twin ever rode.

But Keith expelled a yawn. He could have pretended to be more energetic, but the sugar crash in his body would have exposed him otherwise.

“Ha! This takes “going on a field trip to better heights!” Hunk was gushing to Lance. The more he saw this ocean lining, the further it carried him back to his memory of a girl he met on their beach outing.

_Lance was sipping a soda with his back tilting against the side of the snack bar shack, chatting it up with some of the senior guys and gals, using that famous charm of his that usually didn’t belie most 15-year-olds. Hunk would sometimes look at him and wonder if it were years of growing up around other women that blessed him._

_But Hunk was content to play volleyball and to keep his technology impulses to a minimum. Until there was one girl named Shay that spoke to him, simply because of his friendly demeanor and of being in the same class together. Despite the time that faded into sunset, her eyes would remain fixated on his. They bonded through their shared love of technology and of the Solar System. Hunk wondered if she felt the same sweet peace bubbling with a dash of intrigue between them as the sun deepened into an orange orb. They exchanged numbers at the end of the day, just before Lance pulled him away running for the bus._

_But she withdrew from Garrison, and they lost contact._

The three were strolling slowly on the sidewalk, then slowed to a stop while Lance grinned widely at Hunk's zoned-out smile. “Who are you thinking of?” he cooed.

“Remember that girl I told you that I met, and then we kinda drifted away?” Hunk was not one to divulge details about his love life, and he was not much of a romantic gusher. But something about the sea breeze drifting gently against them and settling on their skin brought her up all over again.

“Did you see her in the plaza or something?”

“No. Just started thinking about her. The beach reminds me of our meeting.”

“Why don’t you look on Facebook for her profile?”

“Did all that. Nothing.”

“If you love her, she’ll come back.”

Hunk felt his face grow with a splash of heat. “Um… NOT in love, just curious.”

“Whatever you say, buddy.” He smiled and turned with his hands snug in his pockets.

Hunk rolled his eyes, because he _wasn’t_ in love. His heart _didn’t_ become a pulp smoothie wondering what Shay would have looked like as a Senior…Her anecdotes about life and her family’s heritage _never_ fascinated him more!

“Hey, guys. Wanna take a look inside?” The boys didn’t notice until a few feet away that Keith was swaying back and forth, hands behind his back as he was looking at them. “It’s an antique store.”

Lance just shrugged, and Hunk made a joke about possibly coming across a multicolored cat sculpture that he promised his mother _._ Only she didn’t know she needed one and Hunk made that vow to himself _last Christmas_.

~~~~~

Wasn’t this supposed to take only 45 minutes to get to Olkari Valley from here? According to the long train of goats corralling through the road and basically bringing any traffic to a standstill, _absolutely not._ They made it out of the suburbs, but were now passing through a more rural, greener area of the Arusian pass. “Well, I managed to get delayed by literal goats this time.” Griffin pouted, eating what must have been the third piece of chocolate that Rachal prescribed him.

Speaking of the girl, she was awfully calm for someone behind the wheel having to stop. So calm as to take her phone from the headset and start taking pictures. She also managed to add some commentary about the scenery

“Did you want…”

“I don’t want or _need_ any more chocolate, Ms. McClain!”

She narrowed her eyes at him, body still facing the last group of goats, “I was _gonna_ ask if you wanted me to call my sister and tell her you’re being held up?”

“Sure, tell her that we’re supposed to be there in 30 minutes, then we’ll get there…”

A loud bleat echoed after the stream was done but initiated another stream of goats. Rachal puffed a giggle and continued making her little vlog “Oh, my God! Life in the valley, am I right?”

James huffed and suckered hot air through his teeth. Rachal took that as a note to herself that maybe she should text Veronica during this delay, or better to call.

“What’s up?”

“Ronnie, we’re in the canyon area, there’s a goat crossing. But we’re about 45 minutes or so away.”

_“How’s Griffin?”_

“Wound up like a toy rabbit.”

_“Tell him I said that we got the shipment, and to get his ass here soon.”_

“Affirmative, McClain. I hope I see you at-”

The call dropped, and Griffin spat a curse from his mouth.

“Alright, soldier. At ease. Ronnie knows we’re on the way, so just breathe and take in this wonderful, untouched earth before us, okay?”

Griffin was listening to her gentle words and was still in no mood for this shit. But his earthy eyes scoped to a sight that burned comfort into his shoulders. Mountains. Tall lookouts that were flourishing in all their green glory, thanks to the previous winter’s heavy rainfalls. The fertility cascaded to the grasslands, producing a rainbow spread of poppies. Just like home and the cabin where his parents would spend their summer vacations fishing and having marshmallows next to the fireplace while his father would sit back with a good book and a glass of cognac on his very sporadic vacations…

_Griffin._

“Griffin!” Rachal peered at him with worry creeping on her face, thin hand waving in front of him like a paper fan. “We’re moving.” He whispered an “oh,” and settled back with a newfound sense of comfort in his body.

The sight of the mountainous setting followed them for another five minutes longer until they reached a gas station.

“I counted the timer on my video, and apparently we were stranded here with these cuties for just under five minutes.”

“Think I’ll buy a cottage out there when I retire.” Griffin allowed the dream to slip from his lips like a vapor.

“You’d have to get used to goat crossings every single day, Mr. Griffin.” She teased as she reached for her wallet, pulling out her blue debit card.

“Please allow me.” He insisted politely. “Just stay there with the pump.”

There was a twinkle in her cobalt eyes, mouth subtly open. “Okay...It’s number 6.”

He told her he would be back, so now was a great time to break out her playlist. She inhaled a whiff of the sweet country air, reminiscent of freshly cut hay and unspoiled grass. Something about it enhanced the notes of the song she chose, 80s electronica, this time with a medium 4/4 tempo and a male vocalist. Her thumb minimized the window, hoping to get a response back from her brother. Maybe the knucklehead was finally sleeping off his fatigue.

So she sent another text about being 40 minutes away from Olkari Valley, in particular, the Garrison County convention center. After pushing send, she allowed herself to fall into the lull of the music, head resting in her arms on the car’s hood. The gas continued to pump in as she hummed along to the tune. Griffin finally came out of the store holding what she knew was a snack bag, marching out as precisely as any officer would: shoulder’s square, never missing a step.

She told him that the pump was still running, and to let her know if she should “turn off the tunage.” But the man assured her that she was okay, and that what he paid should have provided her with a full tank. He uttered a soft apology.

“For what? Being a general _nag_?” She raised her eyebrow in that _very_ familiar way, with that unmistakable smirk that was _so_ McClain.

He cleared his throat and returned a conservative grin, scoffing. “I guess you could put it that way. I deserved that.”

“You’re cool, Griffin.”

“Call me James.”

“And you, by the name my mama gave me.” She smiled.

They shook hands over the car hood, and the young woman pointed to the plastic bag in his hand, asking what he got. “Junk food” was the only reply, and he mentioned that he was starving and probably not willing to share. But she brought up how _so graciously_ she shared her chocolates with him.

~~~~~

Like any antique store, the space was an eclectic gathering of objects spanning from the early days of the 1920s to the more recent retro of the 1990s. Dishes rested on wooden shelves, clothing was settled on a charming wooden grid hanging on the wall. Framed posters from the World War 2 era made themselves home against the back walls.

The boys dispersed, momentarily. For some reason, they were the only one’s there. Hunk was looking at old toaster ovens, then flinched violently at the family of dolls gathered together in dozens. What was it about those little demons? Keith was rummaging through the jacket display, strumming his thumb against a leather jacket that might have fit him back in his early high school days. Lance scoured a container of dishes, each with a red and orange pattern that reminded him a lot of his _abuela’s_ collection.

Lance looked at Keith with a brief, but genuine grin as they met by a shelf of glass figurines.

“You know I took a class once to learn how to make one of these?” the blue-eyed boy began.

“Really? What can you make?”

“Yeah…about that.”

Keith tilted his head toward him, indigo eyes focused on the charisma of what he was going to say next.

“I once decided to play a joke on everyone and play a high pitch singing voice from the intercoms. Senior prank day. A couple of friends, Hunk and I. Broke everyone’s shit in that room. We were banned from all school functions ‘til we made enough money to pay for the damage.”

“How long did that take?”

“About a month and a half.” He folded his arms and looked up in contemplation, “Never thought in my life that it would actually work!”

“Lesson learned.”

Hunk called their attention from the back of the room, where he was rocking an A-line, cinched-waisted purple dress over his body. The sleeves were full-length and bell-shaped, with the skirt of the dress stopping just at mid-knee revealing the pants he was still wearing. He cat-walked over and did a quick turn.

“You think my mom would appreciate this?” he asked enthusiastically.

“Better be prepared for a long family discussion” Keith spoke worriedly.

“No!” I mean do you think she would wear this? I’m kinda her male body twin…”

“Oh, it’s fierce!” Lance posed with a finger snap, receiving a titter from the man with the mullet. “Wait a minute! There’s something I wanna try out.

Like a child in a playhouse, Lance rushed over and found a sparkling, slinky dress in a bright silver shade. The shoulder straps were an inch thick, and the bottom was floor length. But his eyes kept falling to the mid-thigh slit on said dress. He asked if any of the guys had a safety pin, which of course they didn’t.  

“What are _you_ doing?” Keith shot a lookout at the back entrance for a store owner, then glared at Lance. Apparently, they weren’t paying attention to the “try and you buy” sign hovering over the fitting room entrance. He pointed to it, and Lance just blinked. Hunk knew he was going to sneak on the dress and put it back before he could get caught, or at least try to.

“Relax, just gonna try this on, then send Rae a picture, since she’s, like, my _literal_ twin. Her prom’s coming up next month.” But she wasn’t gonna see the picture until 3 weeks before.

“So, her prom and my mom’s birthday in the same month…” Hunk pointed out.

“You guys are gonna get busted, and I’m not going to do a damn thing about it.” Keith taunted casually.

“Tada!” Lance came out a few minutes later, the dress fitting every inch of his body like a glove despite the lack of a chest up top. He was admiring himself with his hands on his hips and a Cheshire Cat smile on his face.

Hunk balked at how much of a natural he would be at being Rachal if he could find a darker brown waist-length wig, while Keith was staring uncomfortably with his head tilted.

“It’s gonna smell like that minty cologne musk you wear.” Keith pointed out, still calm and nonchalant as ever.

“Haven’t reapplied that in a couple of hours.” He frowned at the raven-haired boy. “You got a good nose.”

“Go ahead and take a shot, Hunk!” The two boys were laughing and took a selfie or two or three.

Keith’s voice was matter-of-fact “I hear voices in the back, guys.” But they were too much in their own Instagram babble to pay attention to his words.

“You think they’ll mind us modeling their stuff? Maybe use our pictures for their promotional material?” the big guy was saying.

“Couldn’t hurt to ask.” Lance responded to him with a gasp. He skipped over to a basket carrying a pink feathered fan and seized it with false elegance.

“Give me one of those skinny cigarettes they used to smoke, and it’ll complete the look.” He chuckled while looking behind his shoulder like the careless guy that he was. If anyone could pull off drag flawlessly, it was this boy that Hunk has known since the fifth grade. The utter lack of cares he gave _almost_ inspired him to try on another dress off the rack, for the sake of aesthetic.

Keith peeked over at the two of them, trying to ignore the flitter of butterflies threatening to take flight in his stomach. He sighed and forced his attention to the extensive array of knives and small blades in the display case, pretending not to notice how unfairly _toned_ that guy looked in a dress of all things! He overheard Hunk commenting on a piece of fabric that “looked like one of the Golden Girls would take home with them.” Lance then broke out into a karaoke session, flamboyantly singing the first verse of the sitcom’s theme. Hunk was providing the beat of the song by humming, then melted into words with his friend.

Lance attempted to get Keith to join them in their tune, but he uttered a firm “no” and continued browsing the blades.

He managed to remove his attention from the display long enough to swallow back a gasp upon seeing an older woman with wavy white hair, and two other women beside her, with identical facial features that told Keith they must have been sisters. Each of them wore the same quarter-length dress and cardigan combination, one wore red, the other blue, and the last one yellow. One of them passed by Keith, putting a bony finger to her smiling lips to shush him. It made him smile in playfully wicked anticipation to see these two geniuses getting caught. He _warned_ their asses.

The elder in blue began beating down on the carpet with her walking stick.

Lance turned around from his dance and screeched mid-song, tossing the fan unceremoniously up in the air. Along with the jam session flooding away, both of their faces deflated upon seeing the three women tapping their feet and staring them down as though they were small toddlers playing around in their wardrobe.

“Um, I wanted to um, see, um…” his eyes sheepishly reached out to Hunk for assistance, but the big guy was much too frozen like a statue to assist.

“Speak clearly, young man.” The woman in red walked to him in perfect precision, just like one of the teachers at the Garrison inspecting them.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Explanation behind your wardrobe choice?” Demanded the woman in blue.

“Um. Saw it as a potential prom dress for my sister, ma’am.” Lance uttered in his more serious cadet voice.

“And what about you?” the woman in yellow asked an intimidated Hunk.

“Started trying something on for my mother, sir, I-I mean, ma’am!” He flinched at his mistake but straightened up immediately.

“Alright, at ease, Cadets.”

“Whoa, whoa whoa! Are you ladies retired military?” Lance responded with a giant sense of awe. To hide the blush growing on his face and neck, he excused himself and military marched back to his dressing room. Hunk slipped off his own dress right where he stood, street clothes still on underneath.

They were retired 4-star generals, each of them. When they graduated from the Garrison Academy, they were among the first women to do so despite the hard struggle of being admitted and staying there with such a rigorous course load. They were also triplets born into military backgrounds. Their grandfather served in the Civil War before moving West and raising their father. To make it up to their father for not having boys (and for the sheer thrill and love of the path), they took the military route and retired at 60. One was Air Force, the other Army, and the youngest one the Navy. Only one of the women married, but her husband died 5 years ago, thus reuniting the sisters and opening an antique store on the beach. It was the best decision they made as of late.

“You stayed together, never abandoning each other, not once?” Keith’s voice dripped with tender admiration.

“Nope, not then and not now.” The lady in blue answered and squeezed her sisters’ hands.

“We’re actually Garrison students ourselves, seniors.” Hunk mentioned.

“Well, he’s on a college tour. I’m technically supposed to be home sick.” Lance finally emerged from the dressing room in his original clothes.

“Does your mother know this?” Asked the blue lady.

Lance laughed feebly, making a tight triangle with his index fingers.

“I can’t blame you for wanting to get away for a day, to reset. I don’t recommend making a habit of it, however.” The woman in yellow mentioned.

“What about you, you set to graduate with them?” The lady in red turned to Keith.

“I’m hoping to make it to my third year of undergraduate studies at Balmera University. I’m studying Aeronautics”

Red blew a strand of air in empathy. “Yep, gotta be a tough cookie to finish that. Hubbie graduated with honors. You got the determination, I have full confidence in you.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.” The college man’s face solidified into something just as stoic as a cadet himself with a stiff upper lip and serious eyes.

After a military family price of $19 per dress with a choice of a free piece of jewelry, the young men exited, ready to conquer their next activity. Before Lance could leave, Red commended him on being able to pull off a dress with his physique and confidence. He laughed warmly and ran to catch up with the others.

~~~~~

The plaza was an open-aired outdoor mall spanning at least several feet. Terracotta floor tiles enhanced the outside dining area with a tall fountain of a glass volcano, with an inscription written at the base.

“Why did you just stand there instead of speaking up for Hunk and I?” Lance was walking alongside Keith like an indignant 5-year-old, shoulders hunched and feet scuffing on the sidewalk.

Keith flung his palms outward as if literally offering him a chance to shut up. “I **told** you that if you guys got caught, I wasn’t going to do anything about it. I said that. I _said_ that, right? Didn’t you hear me say that, Hunk?”

“Oh yeah, I heard you say that, Keith.” Hunk muttered cautiously, because he had _never_ heard this guy speak that rapidly before. So he turned his attention to Lance. “Look on the bright side, buddy. While you were getting dressed, Red told us she thought you had “the shoulders and gams for that getup”. And $19 for a dress with a free piece of jewelry is a helluva deal.”

True, the ladies were cool in the end, but Lance was feeling a little sore from Keith’s behavior for some reason. He looked down sadly at the piece of jewelry cradled between his fingers and put it back in his jeans pocket.

“Think of that dress as a souvenir, Lance.” Keith called back with a teasing grin, eliciting an annoyed growl from him.

Rachal sent him a text. Actually, she sent him a few texts in the span of 2 hours or so. Was his phone on airplane mode or something this whole time? The first one mentioned that she was taking a stranded officer to Olkari Valley and to be ready for movie night. Remorse climbed into his stomach at the thought of her coming home to an empty house; no one would be back until at least after 8 tonight. Then something felt slimy, like dread, burrowed into the back of his neck. Please say that officer wasn’t…

Hunk called back to him with the reminder that he couldn’t sulk forever.

“Hold on, dude. Rae sent me something…” the color drained from his face as he stopped scrolling, “oh, shit!”

_Okay, where the hell are you? And don’t even try, we’re twins, dude._

“Twin ESP, it’s fascinating.” Hunk leaned over his friend’s shoulder and skimmed over every text that Rachal sent him. “Wait! Which officer?”

“I truly hope that it’s not James _fucking_ Griffin!” Hunk patted his shoulder which caused him to loosen his iron grip on his phone. “Rae’s a really chill girl, but at the end of the day this guy might have her with a wad of her hair in her lap! Like one of those crazy mental patients that just _snap_ and start tucking themselves in a corner!

Hunk forgot his role as comforter at times like this and fell right into his friend’s panicky tangent. “Or sleeping under their beds!” “Or counting down days while whispering something unintelligible!”

“I have to ask her!”

_Who is with you? What’s his name?_

“Now what?”

The two seniors paused and glided their view over to a very perplexed-looking Keith, who probably came back from a restroom break.  

“Hey, Keith, come here!”

He walked over with a surprised, yet soft face, taking his place behind the pair.

“My sis is gonna get a snapchat of us.”

Before Keith could protest, the boy said, “She’s cool. Not a snitching bone in her body.”

They were in front of a fountain, a scene of children running and random patrons hanging out at tables with umbrellas. One ten-second greeting later, he pushed the ‘send’ button with a caption that said:

_For your eyes only. NOT for Griffin’s!_

Send.

“So…what now?”

They were going to wait until she texted them back, all that they could do. In the meantime, Keith reminded them that they might have time to stay parked at that hospital until closing. 5 seconds later, a message came back to Lance:

_You guessed right, it’s Griffin. Tell Hunk I said hi! And tell that new guy he’s very sexy._

A blush faded into his cheeks as he tried to swallow his heart’s sudden jittery rhythm. Hunk and Keith sent him a weary look after pausing for what felt like the umpteenth time over his texting.

“She’s with Griffin!”

“As long as he’s taking care of business in Olkari, we’re in the clear.” Hunk patted his shoulder and smiled sheepishly.

“Rae also said hi, Hunk.” He looked away, “And that…”

“What?” Hunk glared with anticipation.

“That **you** look sexy, Keith.” His mouth was pinched shut as if dragging the words out.

“Um, okay.” Was all that fell from Keith’s mouth.

~~~~~

This new guy was sexy as _hell_. Yet there was something _unspoken_ about the man in the mullet she noticed instinctively off the bat…

James was pressing his frustrated gaze her way again. She involuntarily huffed through her nose softly and put the damn phone on the handset.

“I’m just as good of a driver. Relax, will ya?”

“It’s against the law. I don’t want to see you get pulled over.” He stated plainly. “Plus, if you do get in trouble, I will **not** bail you out.”

She imparted that she didn’t expect him to, then decided out of the blue to just do some real talking for a change.

“Is your father a five-star general or something?” she asked truthfully, but with enough exhaustion to give her question an unintentional sarcastic angle.

“He’s actually in line to receive his fifth star. Why?”

She settled her voice to a gentle note, “if you’re this much of a wet rag with people, then you _must_ really put yourself through the wringer.”

“And I’m a hell of a junior officer because of it.” His resolve was firm, even if his gaze remained straight ahead out the window. “Someday I’m going to finish my military training at West Point and become the most decorated officer of the US Army.

“Why aren’t you doing that now?”

He interrupted the conversation in favor of pointing out a red light, receiving a mildly irritated sigh from Rachal. Side seat drivers…

He asked her what she was going to do after high school, at least that’s what she thought she heard him say…

“After you graduate? What are your plans?”

The question came up several times, from well-meaning uncles and brothers, and ex-boyfriends who were trying to gauge where they were standing with her. She missed the good old days when that question was just a cute conversation starter for children. But happiness played on her lips instead. “Major in education, minor in dance.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, modern dance and hip hop.” She fawned. “Wouldn’t mind getting a job in Santa Balmera or Garrison County, whatever comes first.”

The light turned green, and Rachal had long forgotten to get his answer to her question from earlier. Which was that he wasn’t ready to leave the community of Garrison Military Prep just yet…

~~~~~~

Just 30 more minutes and they would finally be in front of the convention center, and he would bitch out the cadets that didn’t have the sense to bring him along.

Just 10 more minutes of rural grassland and tumbleweeds. Which Rachal really did not do well with avoiding. The car managed to swerve away from a larger bramble bouncing menacingly across the road, and instead hit a baby stationary one. The two passengers jolted and yelped from the loud pop of the front left tire.

“Hold on tight! She stirred the car on the side of the road into dirt, careful to be away from passing motorists.

“Are you alright?” James reached over to her. She was leaned back in the passenger’s seat trying to regain what little of her composure she had slipping through her fingers.

“We were almost in an accident.” She acknowledged calmly with her grip slowly loosening from the steering wheel. “Stupid ass tumbling thorns!” She let out a whimper as her forehead rested on the steering wheel horn, allowing the car to bellow a long, distressed note.

Griffin made a concerted effort to just remain calm and to assess their options.

“Do you have a spare in the back?” He heard a subtle pop with the sharp steer of the car. 

“I think so.” Her voice was muffled, but she raised up from her misery and made it out of the car. Finding an angry puncture in the tire's wheel was not what she hoped to find. Damn her luck.

At this point, the thought of kicking dirt storms and swearing to the sky was only a small dot on Griffin's list of non-priorities. The two of them were now stranded, and he was unaware of Rachal’s car knowledge, or _if_ she had any to begin with. The view across the street was speckled with black and white beings and a whole mess of yellow sagebrush.

“James.” Rachal removed the sage green jacket she borrowed from her brother and set it gently on the driver’s seat. The chill of air immediately brushed her arms and her bare midriff, bringing a flurry of chills through her body. Or maybe she was mistaking _that_ sensation with the actual adrenaline jacking through her body and making her fingers tremble. “Is that jack in the back?”

He held up the red device with his left hand, and the tire with the other hand. Despite his lithe form, he had great upper body strength in his arms alone. He bought both over from the trunk and dropped it next to the driver’s side where the burst tire was.

Rachal was on the phone with her sister, declaring that tiny little demons _must have been_ after her and Griffin. Except she called him _James_. Her sister must have scolded her because she started arguing with one palm out in impatience.

“I’m not a cadet, why should I keep using his last name? Should I just call _you McClain_ from now on?”

_“Not the time to be a smart ass, Rae.”_

She giggled, “ _Ass_ is your favorite word today, huh?”

 _“You know what?”_ she could hear impatience in the other woman, whenever her voice dropped low and barely emitted above a harsh whisper.

“I’m sorry, Ronnie. I don’t mean to be a pain, honest.” She saw him getting ready to do whatever chivalrous act with this car, and knew she needed to stop him immediately. “Listen, I gotta go. We may be delayed another 15 minutes, but we’ll definitely be on time. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Alright, love you.”

“Love you too, sis.”

She hung up and opened the door, blocking Griffin from bending down to get to work.

“Rachal, do you mind?!” he threw his arms up.

“I’m not letting you get down on your knees in your Garrison best!” she instead knelt down in her light wash jeans and began using a wrench she got out of the glove compartment to loosen the tire. She put a ponytail holder between her teeth and held her hair back until she tied her hair in a fat, bouncy bun.

“Rachal!” Griffin began to protest.

“James!” She glared at him in return, but with a slight plea sparkling in her eyes.

After a few seconds of the standoff, he turned away, knowing he was not going to win this argument. It sucked, but she was right. Most women were.

A trio of biker men were making their way out of the building situated a few feet from where the car was. Griffin swore that he heard one of them talking to _him_ , but he couldn’t tell. Then the large man’s voice became more prominent. “What happened, soldier? Forgot how to change a tire?”

“No. But my friend seems to have it under control.” He gritted his teeth, choosing to show decorum.

The girl rose from her work and stretched her long torso, pausing to see who Griffin was talking to.

“Whoa! How pathetic is this punk letting a little woman change a tire?”

“You should go back inside, and mind your damn business!” The junior officer spat.

“ _Little woman_? Really?” Rachal folded her arms and shook her head with pity.

One of them said that he had a little brother around her age that would love to take her on dates, and make sure that she never changed another tire in her life.

“He’s in uniform!” Rachal defended Griffin with a determined frown. “Whether he’s a man or woman, I would have done the same thing regardless of who he is.”

“A chivalrous woman, huh?” That seemed to disarm the biker men.

“Look, I appreciate you gentlemen, made a girl feel special.” She threw one hand on her hip with a look on her face that glowed with flattery. But you can’t be mean to my friend here, okay? He’s good people.” She then gave Griffin a soft smile, making him drop his fists by his sides. “Come on, _Officer_. We should get going.”

“Yeah, lets.” He managed to stumble over a pebble, flapping his arms rapidly and fell palm-first into his passenger window.

Ugly laughter echoed behind him, and it took everything in his rising anger not to shout something back at them. He was going to be the bigger person, _again_. As he opened the door and slid into his seat, Rachal had finished dusting off the last of the dirt from her jeans with a baby wipe. She turned the ignition on, along with another one of her playlist hits.

They were finally going to make it, without any interruptions this time. As the vehicle joined the rest of the late afternoon traffic, the brown-haired girl asked him for music requests, but the junior officer simply wanted her to play _whatever_ her heart desired.

~~~~~

Keith, Lance, and Hunk were waltzing back to the hospital garage after deciding that they wanted to go down to the boardwalk. After spending a whopping two hours between them shopping for souvenirs and other trinkets they didn’t need, Keith felt it was time to return to the car and decompress.

“She’s gonna love this _soooo_ much!” Lance googled at the 3 ft dolphin plushie in his arms, thinking of his five-year old niece.

“And who’s the shark for?” Keith inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“Me, of course! As an early birthday present for me.”

“Not until July 28th, dude.” Hunk gave him that knowing look, which made him feel a tad guilty, but not really.

“Aww, can’t a guy treat himself every now and then?”

“Which is why I bought this adorable jellyfish massager for those hard-to-reach places.” Hunk cooed.

Keith muttered something under his breath about Lance being “spoiled enough”, which Lance ignored in favor of noticing a small glimmer by a planter nearby. The other two men stared at him as he grabbed the object out of the soil and came back. Keys. Keys with a heart charm, a galaxy charm, and some tags with writing that was a little difficult to make out.

“Someone loves space, I see.” For some reason, Hunk notice that first. “Poor girl must be freaking out.”

“The hospital will be able to keep them safely.” Keith suggested.

Lance mentioned that it may not had even been a girl who lost them, reminding them that Keith’s handwriting made him think a girl lost that red notebook earlier today. Keith folded his arms and scowled at him.

“I do _not_ write like a girl!”

“Your handwriting looks like a teacher’s, man!”

“Guys!” Hunk darted his head to the sight of a woman and her four friends scurrying the place as though they lost something small.

Keith whispered impatiently to Lance. “What are you waiting for, see if that’s what they’re missing!”

“Alright, already!” Lance narrowed his gaze at him. He walked forward with his hands in their comfortable cardigan pockets and yelled out. “Oh, ladies! Whatcha lookin’ for?”

They were looking for a set of keys; car keys to be exact. And with a pink charm and a blue planet of Mercury on it. Luckily, he could tell specific planets apart, because that was a _very_ specific description. With a flirtier smile than necessary, he dangled the keys out into the open.

Hunk facepalmed. “Lance, way to look less like the hero that saved the day and more like a hookup artist looking for some “fun”!”

“Bless you!” One of the young women, a curvy girl, ran and gave the thin boy a hug. She immediately flinched back. “Sorry, I’m just relieved I won’t be stranded here!”

“I can understand that.”

Though she was smiling at Lance, her attention somehow darted towards the other two young men, who were resting on the back of Hunk’s car. Suddenly, her eyes glimmered with tears as she held her hands up to her mouth.

“Hunk?”

The large guy marched to her with a very fond smile after immediately getting over his shock, and held her gently, rubbing her back as she sobbed.

Tears escaped from the corners of his eyes though he kept more of his composure than she did. He leaned in more deeply, enjoying the cool sensation of her large hoop earrings brushing against his cheek. As the sea breeze blew and blended with her floral scent, he inhaled softly, so glad that fate came around full circle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters are where more of the romance and drama will be happening, so stay tuned! :D


	4. "I knew it"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While one couple picks up where they left off, another friendship blossoms to more.  
> Thanks to Rachal's detective work, Lance's secret is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moving to a new house has been taking up a lot of my time, but nevertheless, I'm back with some more.  
> I appreciate everyone's patience and hope that you enjoy. 
> 
> My Tumblr is tealrainbeau.tumblr.com

  
"Who is that?" Keith turned to Lance, who was smiling softly as if witnessing a small miracle of the universe.

"That young lady would be Shay."

Hunk continued to peer at her, then blinked out of his trance in order to pay her stumped friends their due attention. Each one looked at the pair with postures ranging from tensed shoulders to very confused grins.

The two had an audience indeed, then said audience dispersed to let a small trickle of cars pass, mouthing a chorus of apologies. 

Shay explained that her true breakdown happened after visiting her grandmother who is now in intensive care after an infection of her lungs. 

"I'm so sorry. Is she getting any better?"

"They cleared whatever debris was in there. And she’s responding well to the antibiotics.  It’s just been a long time since we’ve all been together as a family."

Hunk said softly that that was good news. 

"We could meet up with you guys later." Lance offered the pair.

Before Keith could ask questions, he felt an uncomfortable pinch in his upper arm.

"Are we really just gonna go and ditch them?" Keith pouted angrily.

Hunk saw the two of them bickering as he talked with Shay, though they did a fine job trying to cover it up. He could see their mouths moving over their clenched teeth, with Keith looking uncomfortably stubborn about something.

“Hey, guys. You okay over there?”

They stopped and shook their heads in unison. Hunk finally introduced Shay to the two, and Shay recognized Lance after thinking back a few years ago. Keith said a warm “nice to meet you.”

He extended the introduction of his two friends to Shay’s friends, who turned out to be cousins here for a lengthy visit.

Hunk repeated Lance’s offer to himself, rubbing his chin. “I hope you know I’m not ditching you guys, but it would be awesome if the two of us went to an aquarium and then grab drinks afterwards. He narrowed his eyes at Lance. “ _Soft_ drinks.”

“Go for it!” Lance cheered.

“Sure.” Keith uttered amicably.

“But my cousins…” Shay’s voice trailed off, but her guests were vocal about her going off with her “boyfriend”. The closest retort she returned was an anxious gasp.

“Well, love birds. Your tribes have spoken.” Lance joked with a cheeky grin.

~~~~~

Though temperatures were dropping, the crowds on the boardwalk were only beginning to reach their peak capacity. Families and couples made their strolls under a deepening blue sky. A bubble machine operated somewhere, sending out a playful show of numerous clear orbs. Hunk had dropped the two off on the corner of a residential neighborhood and allowed them to follow a downward slope towards where the boardwalk and beach were.

“Hey…Keith.”

“Yeah?”

"You’ve dated before, right?” Lance was genuinely curious about Keith’s inability to read social cues back at the parking lot.

“Not since...actually...” And Keith’s shoulders tensed up as his head darted away from Lance.

 “Wow…you’re a relationship virgin, aren’t you?”

“Just drop it!”

The boy widened his eyes with pity. “Geez, how _old_ are you?” he asked almost rhetorically.

“Apparently old enough where I should have been blown a time or two!” Keith spat and charged ahead.

“Wait a second!”

Keith felt a tug on his hand as Lance now gripped it in his _own hand_. He turned around with a frown stamped on his face, puffing an angry sigh.

“You know, not everyone has to have a date and a notch on their bedpost by the time they’re in college!” His voice was firm and drizzled with hurt. Lance felt his own hand get much lighter as Keith snatched it back and stormed ahead into a curtained booth.

He remained standing in the middle of the crowd, swaying a little bit with remorse. He totally virgin-shamed Keith, and after mentally replaying that scene before them, he would have been offended by his own words and made to feel like a pariah. Besides, he was one to talk.

~~~~~

"Your eagle has been delivered!" Rachal mused.

"You mean the eagle has landed." Veronica corrected nonchalantly.

"Whatever." She deadpanned.

She ended the call as James smiled and flashed her a quick "thank you" before hopping out the passenger side. As he rushed up the stairs to the convention center, Rachal rolled her eyes and relaxed her muscles, getting ready to drive away. But Veronica came out and waved. She curved her lips and waved back coolly.

“Drive safely, got it?” Veronica yelled out with her hands on her hips.

The girl uttered a “yeah, yeah”, and told Griffin to have a nice time being a disciplinarian tonight. She tossed him a wink with a smile as she drove off. With a scoff he averted her gaze and bit back a smile.

"Kid sister really came through today. You did reward her, right?"

"Handsomely. I made sure she drove home with a full tank of gas and some more money for...incidentals."

"She’s so gonna spend that on junk food."

James confirmed what she said with a titter as they turned around and went inside. 

Dozens of rows of seats that would cater to cadets of decades past filled the room, facing a stage adorned with red roses and wild flowers. A large projector screen draped behind a podium, which was probably going to be used for those participants who couldn't see in the back. Suitable for a military ceremony.

"You made it, Officer Griffin." Iverson took two steps to meet with him. "I've already spoken with the two cadets about their tunnel vision, and they've been released from their duties, with two days detention for negligence."

"Thank you, sir." He quietly relished in the outcome but wished it had been him to do it.

"Are any of you expecting family here to attend?"

McClain was a first-generation officer in her family, so "negative" on her part. 

Griffin himself knew a woman that was married to his grandfather, but it was ages since he saw her.

“Actually sir, my grandmother, Lt. Maisy Guthrie will be in attendance tonight. It would be an honor for you to meet her.”

~~~~~

What help was it to have a picture of a fountain?

Rachal analyzed memories of the now expired snapchat video that Lance gave her for a good five minutes, looking for clues of where exactly he snuck off to. She continued until her temples began to ache from the sheer uselessness of it all.

Her daydreaming wandered back to Keith. That jawline, those _eyes_. And being a college student meant that he had more potential to be a man than most of the guys at her annoying ass high school. That guy looked like he could get anything that Rachal could gift him.

Provided he was heterosexual...

Rachal responded to her flashing screen and answered the phone.

“ _How’s_ _Lance_?” Veronica asked.

Rachal panicked before remembering how adept she had become at lying throughout the years and decided to tell a half-truth. “He’s getting back to his old self as we speak.”

“ _Did you call him or go see him, Rae?”_

“Oh, yeah. You know our brother. He’s not one to kick it on the couch unless he’s sick or depressed or both.”

Suddenly Veronica paused and Rachal didn’t hear anything. “ _And was Griffin a gentleman_?”

“Yeah, dude was a pain in my ass at first, but overall I would feel safe with him anytime.”

Veronica tapped her chin cheekily. “Funny. I asked him to describe being in a car with _you_ , and he said you drive too fast, play too much electronica, and always manage to be munching on candy or something.”

The lilt of her sister’s interrogating tone was starting to grate on her nerves and create some stirring in her abdomen. “Okay, what are you trying to get at?”

“As I recalled, you did call him _James_ , _hermanita_.” Veronica flashed a knowing smirk.

“Ugh, _Que Locura!”_ She raised her eyebrow in offense. “I’m actually going off on my own little excursion, maybe meet some college guys. I’ll text Mama and tell her that I’m coming home before curfew.” She rolled her eyes and bid her sister goodbye.

Today being one of few days where she didn’t have homework, she was going to blast her music and go on a drive to “accidently” run into this Keith fella.

Music. Check.

Gas filled. Check.

Cigarettes. She pulled them out of her purse. Maybe she should grab some more chocolate instead.

She thought at the last minute to call the Garretts. They always know where Hunk is.

“ _Hello?”_

“Hi, Jessie. This is Rachal. Is your uncle home yet?”

“ _What’s up, Rae? No, he hasn’t gotten back yet. I think he went to, umm_ …”

She heard her ask Hunk’s mother what the name of the college was that Hunk went to visit. After a reply from her aunt, she said, “ _Santa Balmera College or University.”_

She frowned a little with a smirk. “Cool, thanks. I might go up there and surprise him.”

“ _You’re weird.”_

“I’m _friend_.”

_“Talk to you later, Rae.”_

“You too, Tiny. I’ll have a treat for you when I get back.”

_“Is it jelly beans?”_

 “Something that can last you for more than a day, alright? Bye.”

She took a moment longer to input Santa Balmera pier into her phone, accounting for the fastest traffic route possible.  

~~~~~

Keith allowed himself to stew in the booth for a little bit. Somehow, he could sense that the idiot was going to follow him in. Lance may have had a bad habit of being brutally honest, he learned, but he was a kindhearted person underneath his flaws.

So, when Lance came inside, it surprised him that they _both_ uttered “I’m sorry” together.

“Okay, we’ve already established why _I’m_ the complete asshole here, but what are _you_ sorry for?”

Keith looked at his lap shamefully. “I kind of let that comment trigger me.”

“So…I’m off the hook for being a complete dick with the mentality of an 9th grader?”

“I accept your apology.” He looked up. “It’s just been a rough couple of years, and I might have missed out on a few things that I wished I’d done sooner. And it’s not like I’d trust many people with my concerns anyway.”

 “How’s your home life?”

“My mom’s been sick. So, money has been tight. I was supposed to be finishing my third year by now, but I had to defer in order to be my mom’s caregiver. _That’s_ how my home life has been lately!

The man with the mullet exhaled and peered out of the window. “Sorry. Guess I couldn’t hold back anymore.”

“I understand. And I’m really sorry for making you feel inadequate.” Lance’s blue eyes were glimmering with sadness. Why did Keith suddenly want to talk about this now, in a picture booth of all places? This was the most he has heard about Keith’s personal life all day. It occurred to Lance that in the span of several hours, that there was potential  to considered Keith as much of a friend as anyone he could have met ages ago. Apparently, he had a soft heart under his volcanic exterior.

“So, as you can see, I don’t have time for a boyfriend.”

“Well, yeah…wait, _what?!”_ He nearly choked.

“Okay! You’ve made fun of my sexual history, _or lack thereof_ , is my sexuality two for two?”

“Nononono! It’s not that…” Lance exhaled, which made Keith raise a confused eyebrow at him.

A rude knock shook them out of their moment. Some kid wanted to go in there with his group of friends, and these young adults were in here hogging the booth.

Before Lance could pull out a dollar bill, Keith muttered a stern “no”. He whined that Keith was no fun.

“Maybe later.” Keith flashed a crooked smile. “I wanna go somewhere right now.”

As they climbed out, the punk in front of his small group of friends frowned and shouted. “Hey, why don’t you two go and make out somewhere else, like, under the damn boardwalk bridge?!

Keith arched angrily at the younger boy “And why don’t _you_ go JUMP off-“, and Lance yanked him by his vest hood, pulling a sharp gasp from his lips.

“Hey! He’s like, twelve! Let it go.”

Keith pouted and crossed his arms, still allowing Lance to drag him by the hood. “Kids have no respect for their elders these days!”

“I know, I know.” Lance soothed.

~~~~~

Hunk never took his focus off the road but swallowed as he absorbed the tense energy coming from Shay. The girl was in the passenger seat pleading with her difficult brother on the phone. Probably the same damn thing about trying to guilt her into committing fully to family endeavors, or to stop focusing so much on herself. He seemed overprotective to Hunk the first time that they met years ago, and he wondered if he himself had a little to do with it.

At last she hung up and sighed. “I’m so sorry. You know how stubborn he can be when it comes to me dating.”

“I can totally relate. My younger niece still gives me dread when she talks about her crush from the third grade. She’s only eleven.” He glanced compassionately at her. “But she has to grow up, I don’t wanna stifle her.”

Oh my god, is that Lala? Shay’s voice jumped a few decibels in reaction to a giant whale wearing a cute sunhat and aqua shaded overalls.

The place was Lala land, named for the whale mascot that made the name famous. It was an aquarium park, not quite anything outer spacey, but still something to offer an underwater world anyway. Hunk finally found a parking spot and was ready to swallow his own tongue. Nerves, nerves, and more nerves!

Shay called his attention and grabbed his hand, rubbing his knuckles in a circular motion with her thumb. “It’s okay. I’m nervous too.”

The boy smiled in agreement. Hopefully, they would both have fun.

Yet _another slow-moving line._ This was less of a short wait as the two took some shaky breaths and began playing strange word games to pass the time. At one point, they channeled their inner elementary school kids and indulged in hand games. By the time they reached the ticket window, they were laughing uncontrollably as a result of some natural high.

“You know, I was thinking about going to see that beluga whale. He’s very close I think.”

“That’s the round white creature, right?” Shay inquired.

Hunk hummed and nodded. “Not to get all morbid or anything, but I always thought it was so cruel how any whale got hunted for their blubber for a quick profit. I was raised to believe that God’s creatures were more sacred than that.

“In our culture, we believe that even something as small as a twig on the ground gives us our connection to the earth. That everything is living and has a soul and should be treated as such. In a way, we’re an extension of everything in space and the galaxies. We are animists.”

Something inside Hunk’s more logical oriented brain shut down, betrayed by the sweet thumping in his chest from listening to her. Had he really been falling in love, or was this deep infatuation?

Their conversation was interrupted when Lala came running through a crowd while chasing some little kids and scooping them up into a hug. The older kids loved it and giggled gleefully, but a much smaller child cried loudly, face reddening with a distressing cry. The beluga buried her face in embarrassment.

“You think she would give autographs?” Hunk asked shyly. “I’m asking for a friend.”

“I don’t understand why not?” And Shay was leading him by the hand before he could even get his nerve up, but hey, he only lived once.

“Excuse me, Ms. Lala! My friend and I have been a fan of yours since we were babies and…” she looked to Hunk as his cue.

“I would love to have your John Hancock, if that’s possible, if it’s not against any company policy or whatever.” He smiled like a child meeting his idol and began to contain more of his excitement when Lala pulled out a piece of paper and signed her own name to the card.

~~~~~

"You want to get a tattoo?" Lance gawked at the college boy, who in turn casually said "yeah."

They walked inside of the boardwalk shop, which was a rather empty place at that. Low hanging ceilings colored a dimly lit room where there was a sitting area with magazines and off-setting the main area. Only three tattoo artists have been working, deeply engrossed into their work. The periodic buzzing of needles filled the room.

"I've been looking forward to doing this since moving here. Figured I'd finally get it out of the way now." Keith said.

"Finally mustered the courage?" 

"Something like that..." when he said it, Lance heard the sigh of relief blow from his lips. It was nothing like the nonchalant reply he gave outside. Did he want Lance here for moral support?

"What do you hope it looks like?"

"This."

He pulled his red notebook from his inner vest pocket and turned the page rapidly to a small pencil sketch. A sword. Intricately designed with a faint glow surrounding the blade and geometric markings on the handle. It looked like something space-themed or from a sci-fi movie.

"Wow..."

"I wanna put it on my upper bicep." He slapped his hand on the area and gave it a slight squeeze."

"Hey, as long as it's not going to be on your left breast or your love handle or something."

"Imagine going through that..."

Keith went to the front desk and discussed the reason for his visit, motioning with his notebook open.

The butterflies in Lance's abdomen stirred over how absolutely bad-ass Keith was to just get a tattoo on the fly like that. Lance himself hated needles. The memory of him hyperventilating at age 6 over a flu shot bubbled to his consciousness and melded with the periodic buzzing of inking echoing off the walls.

He gulped looking at a girl getting inked, the needle working and smearing a black stain against her lower neck. A painful grimace traced into her red lips. Her eyes slid to his direction and he gulped, attempting to return a pitiful smile. She rewarded him with a brief wink, so she must not have been in too much pain.

Keith returned from the desk and headed back towards the entrance, a sad smile framing his face.

“Change of heart?”

The college boy mentioned with a flat voice that they were booked until next month and continued outside. Lance finally got from his seat and followed him, bristling at seeing the same lady who had work on her neck now getting worked on her bare breast. He finally rushed outside after his friend, hoping the fresh sea air would cool his face, and that time would be kind enough to erase the image from his brain.

“Dude! Did you see that woman…”?

“That’s why _minors_ aren’t allowed in there....”

Lance bemoaned what would happen if the needle hit too deeply, or how she would look in about fifty years when her tattoo would be all faded and wrinkly. Keith’s gentle chuckle snapped him out of it, and Lance knew from the lack of passion in his laugh that he was feeling a little deflated now. He remembered the object from the thrift store that was tucked in his pants pocket and fished it out.

The boy in the blue cardigan stopped walking to get his attention. “Well, until April rolls around, here’s a little something to tide you over.”

Keith’s amethyst eyes softened as he took the small plastic bag from Lance’s hand. He pulled out a small package, which he opened carefully. On a pendant style chain was a silver charm of an elegantly designed knife.

“Lance, when did you get this?” there was that beautiful smile in which just enough of his teeth showed. His eyes were glimmering with gratitude.

Lance was smiling with a little hint of a blush evident on his cheeks. “A little birdy told me you have a thing for blades.”

“Then you better thank that bird.”

~~~~~

“Hunk, look at the dolphins dancing!”

The show was getting ready to start when Hunk spotted two seats for them to fall into and enjoy. He allowed Shay to pass through first and followed sitting next to her. They were both carrying flags of some sort which had their favorite sea animal on it.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce the arrival of our triplets! Give a warm welcome to siblings Del, Fin, and Noah!”

Audience applause followed with some warnings about the possibility of getting wet and for other lighthearted moments such as having fun and remembering to cheer for the main attractions.

“This is going to be so good! I can’t wait!” Hunk squealed.

To start, each dolphin followed in a ring, and rotated around a few times. They stopped and joined together in the middle, meeting like something reminiscent of a sculpture. They communicated with each other and bounced off the other, making the shape of an animal firework of sorts.

The more Hunk’s eyes became fixated, the more he noticed that these animals were doing this with only minimal direction of a trainer. In fact, it was evident the trainer’s part in this once they each jumped through a hula hoop that she was holding up. They did these movements three more times before pausing for audience cheers.

“Alright my lovely participants. I would like to get one volunteer to come and throw a beach ball for our stars to play with!”

Everyone else had their hands up high, but Shay was absent mindedly waving her flag back and forth.

“Alright, young lady!”

“Me? Shay pointed to herself shyly.

“Yes, you!” the announcer exclaimed with a dazzling smile. Hunk met her astonished eyes and encouraged her to go.

She ran to the tank and climbed the ladder leading to the top. After asking for her name and receiving her answer, the announcer instructed her to throw the first ball, which she did. The dolphins began to dance about, engaging in their own little game of beach volleyball or ping pong. The girl was intrigued and giggling as they continued on for two minutes or so, and gasped once they sent it back to her.

“Let’s all give Shay a round of fins, ladies and gentlemen.” The girl went back to her seat, smiling crookedly.

“You are so damn cute!” Hunk grinned, rubbing her shoulders.

Suddenly, the cheerful little mammals made a ten-foot somersault, flooding the audience with three large waves and causing the outdoor auditorium to explode with screams, then evaporate into laughter. The two teens were nuzzled into each other as they tried to warm each other from the chill brought on by a sudden breeze.

“I can’t make a joke about this situation without sounding incredibly corny.” Hunk shook his head.  

~~~~~

Lance asked Keith if he wanted to ride the boardwalk’s rollercoaster. It stretched for yards like most standard coasters, had several loops, and lasted for a good two to three minutes, Lance guessed. What distinguished Balmera’s ride from others was how utterly _fast_ it was, according to some veterans.

The college boy disappeared for a moment, Lance wondering if he decided to bail. But he came back with just enough tickets for them both to ride.

“Ready?” Keith asked, almost as a challenge.

“You bet your ass!”

It was five tickets to ride per person. Once the boys were strapped in, Lance looked ahead and up. The first drop after the twenty or so foot rise was going to be a doozy.

But it was just a rollercoaster, and definitely not one of the highest ones he’s been on. But the rapid thumping in his chest turned into an irregular drumming whenever he found his gaze on Keith’s eager countenance. _This_ guy that inspired him to ride this damn thing, with that impulsivity and that _sexy_ smirk.

The crowd and attractions were shrinking below them, and butterflies were varying their rhythm in Lance’s stomach, especially with the warm chatter of Keith’s voice. 

“Too late to back out now.” He told him with a playful edge in his tone.

“I’m fine!” Lance persisted.

“Yeah? Never seen anyone grip a bar rail so hard.”

His knuckles were doing more than turning white, at this point he felt like his bone might protrude sharply through the skin. Lance was secretly more than a little freaked out. “I’m a roller coaster connoisseur! I _live_ for the danger and velocity of these babies.” In his mind he meant to sound like a badass, but it came out in jitters and false bravado, making Keith snicker a little.

“If you say so.”

Before he could utter another comeback, his sass turned into a high-pitch scream as the pressure of velocity ripped into his chest and face.

If the memory of Lance’s high pitch opera made Keith hold back some snickers, then the photo that came out from their fast-motion trip left all bets off for the Mullet.

One look at Lance’s screaming face frozen into the likes of a famous Edvard Munch painting, and Keith was collapsed onto a railing, unsuccessfully stifling high-pitched laugher while attempting to conceal his scarlet blotched face with his hand. 

By this point, people were staring as they passed, some with smiles on their faces that were on the verge of laughter themselves.

Lance intended to protest, but instead allowed Keith to get the rest of it out of his system. He sighed tenderly. It wasn’t a mocking laugh, he realized. Actually, it was some of the sweetest music he ever heard.

“I’m keeping this.” Keith finally sobbed as he put the photo away in his red journal. By this point his wheezing had died down to amused whimpering as he wiped away tears with the back of his gloved hand.

“You good, man?” At least now Keith could finally stand up straight but held his stomach.

“Yeah. Where next?” he chuckled with his head tilted slightly.

What Lance wanted to say was “A place where we can be alone”. A place where he could gently cup his cheek and kiss him softly. A place where he would spill poetic confessions from his lips. A place where they should just stop beating around the bush and say they want to be together. It was too bad that the shades of purple, orange, and pink in the skies could not communicate that for him.

~~~~~

“How many chances do we have at this?” Now that they were dry, Hunk did not want to waste any of the booth’s snapshots on some ill-timed photo. Last time he did one of these at a family reunion, he sneezed and had to wait until 40 more people had their turn before he got a do-over.

“We get four snapshots.” Shay was straightening strands of her hair from her neck-length bob. Hunk thought that she looked beautiful no matter what corrections she tried to make to her appearance.

On the screen were choices of filters ranging from the typical sparkles and bubbles to having a CGI of Lala herself come and take a couple’s picture with them. There was a unique filter where a person’s face could turn into a starfish.

Hunk clearly was having too much fun sorting through the enhancements, as he found himself mimicking the characters that passed on screen.

“We have 20 seconds left to take all four pictures.” Shay mentioned matter-of-factly.

The boy quickly snapped his pose into something that resembled a space ranger with a gun, with Shay in a pose mirroring him.

_Snap._

Next pose were arms wrapped around each other.

 _Snap_.

Hunk with his lips pressed against her cheek, and Shay blushing.

_Snap._

Last five seconds: Shay with her hand caressing his cheek as they indulged in a kiss.

_Snap._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been having a ball writing this particular fic because it's meant to be very lighthearted and almost carefree (for now...). Because of this, the plot is very simple throughout and is more of a "day in the life" kind of story. 
> 
> (By the way, if you're looking for a Klance fic with more mature themes, I'm currently working on a new fic, "Reckless Abandon") .


	5. "You're My Hero"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something of value disappears as one of the boys runs into trouble, and an unexpected ally teams up to get it back.
> 
> Cameos make an appearance ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank you guys for your support and your enjoyment of this fic. ♡  
> There will be 6 chapters total to finish this story off.  
> Also, Happy upcoming Valentine's Day if you're reading this on upload day ♡

I always wanted to live by the beach again. Like I used to in Varadero when I was little.” 

“That’s in…” 

Keith listened and held on to his every word, but the boy’s ocean blues and whimsical smile were both distracting and enhancing to his senses. 

“Cuba.”

“Go to Balmera U. You could indulge every day if you wanted to.” Keith offered for some ulterior attempt at advertising. 

“Nah. That school is for those who are serious about what they want out of life, not for confused guys like me.  Ever since the sixth grade, I knew I wanted to do work in the military. Not necessarily be a soldier… just  _something_ with the science and math skills that I built up on.”

“You ever think of becoming an engineer or a weapons tester?”

The boy peered out into the bob and weave of the ocean below the bridge they were on, smiling mildly with the slightest trace of trepidation evaporating into his breath. “I used to think those options were so cool, but now that I’m older, I’m just afraid that whatever I end up choosing will be difficult to keep up with. Maybe I’m just scared…”

Lance folded his arms against his chest, dragged into an uncertain space and time for a moment. His eyes were indistinct, mouth pursed with the weight of the world. 

Keith reigned his attention back with tender conviction. “Sometimes being scared is a sign that you’re about to do something that matters, at least that’s what it feels like for me.” 

“You think so?” he uttered pensively.

“Look, I know we’ve only known each other for a day, but in that timeframe, I’ve gotten to know a compassionate, intelligent and  _daring_ guy. It makes me question where the hell he has been this entire time.” He tried to bite back a smile for his own posterity, and it was not working. 

“Are you hitting on me?” Lance teased. Not with the usual conceited mockery. Something softer, maybe a little bashful took its place. 

“If it brings you back to your usual self, then yes I’m hitting on you.” Keith uttered without holding back, receiving a laugh from him. 

Like mirror reflections, they were enveloped in a pregnant pause, both of them leaning into one another as their hands brushed. Out of nowhere, Keith broke the spell as his attention directed towards a girl staring at them with a rather cheerful yet laid back demeanor. 

“Yo.” 

Lance’s mouth hung open while Keith folded his arms and tilted his head.

“I actually get to meet Keith.” She strolled over to the college student, eyes scanning him like a work of art. “The name’s Rachal.”

“So,  _you’re_ Lance’s twin. Definitely see the similarities.” He swallowed. The similarities were uncanny.

“Of ALL the beaches!” Lance stiffened his shoulders and balled his fists.

But he stuck his neck out at her while rocking his head mockingly. “Well it’s evident that you didn’t come to meet up with  _me_ , you little hoochie mama! Keith is not interested!”

She whipped her attention to the other guy who was standing with his arms and legs tucked into his body, attention averted.

“Please tell the truth, am I making you uncomfortable?”

“Uh, I…”

“You see,  **that** right there says it all!” Lance demonstrated with his palm open as if arguing in court.

Did I interrupt something  _between you two?_ ” Rachal smirked, a tight grin melting to her face.

The girl received and mentally recorded Lance’s annoyed blushing mess. “No, I-I, we-”

“Too late! You’re already stuttering,  _hermano_ , so I know something’s cooking.” She chuckled. He felt like cooking  **her** inside of a pot and leaving her to scorch. 

Lance managed to change the subject after a flurry of butterflies brushed inside of his stomach, and soon they were hurling accusations and interrogations back and forth, looking for holes in each other’s arguments. 

“I went with Hunk to his college tour! So I technically didn’t play hooky!”

“Until now!” Rachal finished properly. 

“Guys…” Keith began to intervene.

“Stay out of this!” The twins barked in unison.

“Okay…I’ll be over here…” The man in the leather hoodie murmured barely above suitable volume, half-way Moonwalking away from the verbal calamity.

“Your turn!” Lance surrendered keenly.

“Since I already took James wherever he had to go, I thought I would just kick it at the boardwalk for the past few hours…enjoy being single for a little bit,  _maybe_ meet a nice, slightly older guy…”

Lance scoffed. “Slightly older…” he rose a high eyebrow, speech slowing down to an astounded uproar. “Did you just call Griffin  _James?!_ ” 

“Yeah, so what if I did? He has a name like everybody else.” 

Lance gasped and threw his hands on his hips, “Don’t you even take that-that…  _nonchalant innocence_ act with me, young lady! 

“Jesus! You and Ronnie…”

“What did Ronnie say?!”

“She’s made room in her methodical brain to ship us together!” He head rolled back as obnoxiously as her eyes.

~~~~~

A clown at the snack and balloon art booth attempted to make conversation with Keith, commenting on how his “friend over there” seemed to be making quite a scene with who he observed correctly to be his sister. Naturally because he noticed similar eyes, noses, mouths... 

“I’ve never seen those people in my life.” Keith stated nonchalantly, his back turned away from the twins’ discord. He wore pinched lips with relaxed brows as he scanned the eclectic array of shelved prizes and snacks.

“Well take your time, I’ll be here for another hour or so.” The old timer offered kindly.

“Actually, can I get one regular cotton candy, a medium bag of popcorn…” He smiled with childlike fever as his focus returned to the balloon art animals.  “Can you make a hippo and a shark?”

~~~~~

Hunk knew now that it was a blessing that his friends provided him with the space to let go for the day, not having to put on an “engineer cap” or a “cadet” cap. 

Looking at the most beautiful girl walking hand in hand with him was beyond worth it. He felt as though they had glimpsed into their own bliss down the line. They sipped sodas and shared the tie from the string of a giant Lala Balloon, as though it were a wedding knot. Even as the moon was out, and it would soon be time for them to head back to Garrison Valley in less than an hour, he could face the oncoming traffic with pure satisfaction in his belly, and a wealth of contentment in his heart. 

He texted his mom that he would be home at around eleven-o-clock tonight. 

**_Mom:_ ** _Drive safely. <3_

His mom was so cool. 

“How soon would you wanna meet my family?”

“Whenever you’re ready. You’ve already met my cousins, so that’s out of the way at least.”

Okay, for graduation, we gotta come back here. Maybe go on a double date with Lance and Keith?”

He nearly chuckled at her surprised stupor.  Those two could beat around the bush all they like, they truly cared for each other in a way that was deeper than love at first sight.

He texted the boys to meet he and Shay back at the hospital parking lot in forty-five minutes, as they would be leaving at that time. He had to drop Keith off at the college, and then brace the traffic back home like a boss. But first, Shay was ready to return to the hospital. Reluctantly, of course. 

Forty minutes later they got back to his car, Hunk opening the passenger door for her and letting her get in.

“You have my new number, right?”

“Yeah, just texted you mine.”

“I’m really glad you’re here, in Santa Balmera. I’ve definitely hope I get accepted to school here!” Even if just for this moment where they spent a carefree afternoon at a place like Lala land, Hunk knew that life had no guarantees. He was prepared by mode of gratitude.

They both asked what they would majoring in should they get in, echoing “engineering.” They high-fived and he started the engine. 

~~~~~

“Glad you both got it out of your systems.” 

Keith had an older mentor back home that he considered a brother, but they never bickered and competed like most siblings. Not like these crazy two.

Both twins followed suit behind Keith, after apologizing for biting his head off earlier. Rachal was happily munching on cotton candy and Lance threw some popcorn kernels in the air, catching them with his mouth. Under Lance’s arm was an intricately made balloon shark that he cuddled with care.  

“You know, dude, you had me at “ _cotton candy.”_ Rachal chewed in delight. 

“Ditto. And what we both mean to say is thank you!” 

Keith uttered a silent prayer of appreciation that like little kids, they were so  _completely_ giddy with the treats (and Lance with his balloon) that the fighting ceased between them. Rachal seemed to be less boisterous than Lance, but put them together at odds, and that stubbornness personality trait was definitely a shared trait.

They got Hunk’s text to meet them back at the parking in fifteen minutes, but first both men were going to walk Rachal back to her car parked in an uphill neighborhood where they would drive to the parking lot together. 

“Was the hospital your idea, Keith?” Rachal raised an eyebrow.

“Kinda genius, huh?” Lance smirked fondly.

“I’m in shape in all but  _fuck_ this incline!” The girl pouted.

Lance demanded some cotton candy from her, asserting that the sugar in it would fuel their walk. For a moment, they traded treats and continued trudging behind Keith, who seemed to walk it effortlessly.

~~~~~

The moment the trio drove into the location where Hunk said to meet them, they sensed something wrong immediately. For Rachal and Lance, it was an eerie rattle in their bones. Keith dealt with an unsettling calm coursing through his being.

A tightly clustered crowd formed near the emergency entrance. Hunk was sitting there with what looked like two medical staff waiting on him. Shay’s cousins and another male family member, they assumed, surrounded them both. 

Lance called out Shay’s name and leapt out the car after Rachal paused to see what was going on. 

“What just happened!”

“Hunk was protecting us from a carjacking and got attacked...” The girl was jittering like an electrical current, breath barely coming out as a gasp. He could tell she was trying to keep her head above water, so to speak. 

“Lance!” Hunk shifted and winced from a sharp pain in his shoulder.

“What happened, buddy?!” he bit down his lip, keeping the precarious sensation of waterworks at bay.

“Our car is gone!” Hunk shot from his mouth. But his friend spewed an ambiguous laugh as though his words were some sort of sick sentence from a chain mail. He braced himself, because it was always a precursor to Lance losing his shit. 

But Lance chose to inspect his friend for any cuts, bruises, stab wounds, gun shots, burns, etc.

“Hunk, I’m just really happy that whoever attacked you didn’t kill you!” A lone tear rolled down his cheek, then the other eye released and soon he was hugging his childhood friend with all his might. 

“Hey, all that happened was that one of them grabbed my shoulders and flung me to the ground. Kinda like that move off of Fighter’s Flame.”

“You’re making gaming references at a time like this?!” Lance marveled at him. “

Feet away, Rachal was consoling an emotionally deteriorating Shay while Keith monitored the two parties. With liquid determination spilling into his pool of sadness, the college boy began scanning the parking lot.

Lights decorated the hospital parking lot with a red and blue sequence that spread from wall to wall. There was one car infiltrating the parking lot now, and three police men got out swiftly, marching towards the group. 

“Good evening, kids. My name is Deputy K, this is Deputy G, and Deputy M. 

“Are you guys the Men in Black?” Lance heard Rachal banter dryly, probably to press down her wrinkled nerves.  

Deputy M just chuckled. “I see girly here has jokes. But it’s time to get serious for a moment.” 

“I hate hearing young guys like you getting jacked, and for no reason! Mrs. M from the antique shop across the way reported her gasket stolen this afternoon!” Deputy G growled.

“According to my sister’s boyfriend, these were guys who looked like they were in their late teens/early 20s that jumped them! That could be anybody!” Shay’s male relative spoke up passionately.

“Brother!”

“No, Shay! Hospital parking lots are supposed to be safe places for people! Where is the security patrolling the place!? Ridiculous!”

“Listen, everyone. We need to ask a few questions to those involved. Starting with the one who was attacked.” 

Deputy K, in pure TV cop fashion, pulled out a small notebook and pencil. Lance kept peering at the Deputy’s medium jet-black hair, which was pulled in a ponytail, cheekbones with some firm ripples and dips along his jawline, revealing his age probably to be no older than a youthful fifty. He looked like Keith might in about thirty years, and his stomach flip-flopped because of the thought. 

Somebody was missing from their group of friends…

“Rae, where’s Keith?

~~~~~

With determination pressing into his eyebrows, and mouth tilted angrily, Keith continued downtown until the oily trail of tire tracks stopped in the middle of an intersection and mysteriously faded from there. He cursed the cold trail and rubbed his neck tensely. 

Most criminals who knew how to hotwire a car usually drove ten miles above the speed limit, and would park in an alleyway, or keep on driving. From his memory of stealing an older kid’s car back in middle school, he found a junkyard to be the least suspecting place to find an abandoned vehicle.

He asked people around for a good place to find scrap and pieced together clues that would lead him to a junkyard behind the train depot.  He thanked a higher power for the direction. That would be his next spot.

“A-HA! He turned around to find Lance stomping breathlessly towards him, an exasperated fury splattered on his face. He swore the guy had teleportation abilities. His sister was not too far behind him in her car on the curb. “Where the hell do you think you’re going, Keith!”

“The police are just going to do the bare minimum to keep the peace. We are among dozens who have had parts or whole vehicles stolen since this morning. And you know a “group of kids” like us will be the last on their list!

“Kei-”

“Go back! Both of you!”

“Fuck that!” Lance inched closer. 

Keith widened his eyes in surprise. The fragrance of still fresh cotton candy settled between them, dissipating the tension in the air and replacing it an unsuspecting comfort.

“I’m coming, whether you like it or not, desperado! What would I- _we_ do if something tragic happened to you?”

“Hold up,  _nothing_ about this was being reported in the news _?_ ” Rachal bristled.

“Honestly, I’m glad it hasn’t come to that yet.  Hunk and I would end up in big trouble after our families finish worrying sick about us. “He turned to Rachal with a serious expression. “So go and support Hunk and Shay, I’ll call or text if anything happens.”

As soon as his sister started the car, there was a trace of worry with a glint of sadness mixed in her eyes. 

“Keith! You guys watch out for each other, okay?”

They mirrored each other with sad smiles but nodded their heads in understanding. As she disappeared into the city traffic, Lance let out a heavy sigh, uttering a small thanks for her not exercising  _her_ stubborn streak. 

All he had to do was look at Keith’s squared shoulders to know that he was ready to rock. 

“McClain?!”

It was at that moment that Lance’s stomach suddenly wanted to leap from his throat. James- _fucking_ -Griffin made it his mission to meet them all the way in Santa Balmera. But no, it was just a mirage, he convinced himself. Just stress from Hunk getting attacked crawling into his brain and spiking the juice in there. 

As he blinked, he looked over again by the antique store, processing the junior officer’s stoic stance, focusing on his crossed arms and astounded face.

The muscles in his feet moved him at breakneck speed, then halted as Keith seized him by the hand, nearly causing him to tumble over ass first into the concrete.

“What are you doing?!”

“He already spotted you, just give it up.”

Eventually, they met at the same intersection, much to Lance’s displeasure.

“Oh my God! What, when, how, why, and who?” Lance demanded.

Griffin huffed. “You know, it’s bad enough that I had to leave the celebration to pick up my stranded grandmother, but now it turns out that a not-sick cadet happens to be wandering the streets with whoever this guy is.”

“Honestly, that’s really none- “

“You look familiar.” Griffin squinted at Keith. “You look like a kid I got into a fight with six years ago!” 

“Fascinating, not a lot of people look like me.” 

The two continued swiftly down the road, trying to ditch the junior officer who was following them.

“What’s the rush?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

But Griffin narrowed his eyes, scanning them as if they had data written all over them that said  _we’re trying to retrieve a lost car._

“If you’re doing what I  _think_ you’re doing, I’m coming with you guys.” James insisted. “There’s always power in numbers. The two of you would be history.”

But Lance had questions and was not going to let up. Mostly because of pure nosiness.

“What about your grandmother?”

“She’s at the police station, sitting on their necks for action leading to the arrest of the perpetrators. You know the deputy chiefs up there were graduates of the Garrison.”

“And the celebration?”

“I’m off for the night per Iverson’s approval. Any other questions?”

“Nope. Not really.”

~~~~~

The three men were speed walking for a bit until they found a sea of eyes bouncing their direction and slowed down. 

Judging by Keith’s phone GPS, they were five minutes away from a junk yard by foot. It was a place miles away from the dazzle and glitz of the downtown area, almost buried behind the train station, like one local said. 

“I’m sure there’s another place besides the old junkyard.” 

“Not so fast. Keith probably has more street smarts than you would, no offense.”

“What if I told you that I grew up in the ghettos of Olkari Valley before my family adopted me into their humble abode?”

“Then I would immediately call bullshit.” Keith noted plainly and sped right past him until reclaiming his rightful place as leader of the pack. 

“Damn, you got told!” Lance smiled like a Cheshire cat with a leap in his step.

“Watch it, McClain. I’m still in uniform…”

“At eight in the evening in Santa Balmera, it’s just another shirt and pants.” He mouthed cockily, anticipating the throbbing vein to pump in Griffin’s temple.

“How the hell does Rachal deal with your ass?”

“I’m sure you’ve experienced her delightful nature as well.”

“Did you know she literally got down on her knees and changed a tire for me today?”

“How could you let a girl…”

“It humbled me for a moment. And yes, I got shit for it! But it was only because she didn’t want me getting my uniform dirty before the event. And of course we argued about it, but she…”

Lance caught the words as they tumbled out of his increasingly babbling mouth. “Yeah! Yeah! I get it. She has her passionate stubborn moments where she  _swears_ she knows what’s good for you. Can’t change her mind when she’s like this, so just let her have her way and be good to you.”

Griffin huffed. “I’m soooooo glad you understand!”

~~~~~

**_Hunk:_ ** _What’s going on, Rae?_

**_Rachal:_ ** _I think Keith has a plan to get the car back before it ends up on the local news._

“I should have parked somewhere else! Oh, WAIT! Why didn’t I think of parking somewhere else that was a challenge for crooks to find like, I don’t know, UNDERWATER!” he dropped his hot face into his hands. Shay’s hands massaging his shoulders only dispersed a fraction of his anguish.

Rachal finally came back and invited Hunk and Shay piling in. Hunk insisted that Shay stay with the family and assured her they would be okay. 

“Hunk, I’ll be praying for you!”

“From your lips to God’s ears!”

~~~~~

In the car where they were parked yards from the police surveillance, Hunk reviewed everything that Keith told them per word of mouth from Rachal. 

“Rae, you’ve heard of obstruction of justice laws, right? Which says that police should be doing all the heavy lifting, and not us mere high school civilians!”

“I don’t know what Keith’s gonna uncover, but I will bet he knows what he’s doing.” The girl said to them softly. “I saw something in his eyes that tells me he could move mountains for his friends. “She grinned calmly with fond eyes sparkling. “That’s kinda why I trusted him with my brother tonight.”  

“You allowed Lance to-”

“Watch after Keith and make sure he does nothing stupidly illegal? That’s part of the reason.”

~~~~~

They were against the fence, waiting to enter the place until they knew what they were in for. All because Keith’s memory bank unearthed another moment that occurred around the same time of his carjacking shenanigans: A loose bulldog roaming the junkyard attacked and bit a piece of his shin cleanly off. Twelve stitches just for attempting to find parts to…

“You were a wild child as a teen, weren’t you?” Griffin exhaled from tonight’s story time.

“More like angry and misguided.”

“Okay, Mr.  _Vigilante_ . What’s the plan?” Lance whispered. 

“Say that word again?” Keith side eyed him with his mouth turned diagonal. 

He pronounced the “g” in  _vigil_ as a soft “j”. The  _ante_ part again with short “a” and “e” sounds.”

“I live in a bilingual household, Keith!”

“Right.” Keith flushed a little. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool, man.”

“The plan?” Griffin reintroduced, impatience edging his voice.

“One of us has to get on top of this wall to serve as lookout…” 

Both of them looked at Lance. 

“Why me?” Lance asked, hands on his hips.

“Because you’re feather weight?” Keith shrugged.

“I’m 170 pounds of pure muscle! You’d have to be a-”

Out of his mouth pierced a high-pitched yelp as Keith lifted him without so much as a grunt and draped him over his shoulder. 

“Put me down, you brute!” Lance yelled and began beating on his back.

“You want me to drop you and make it look like an accident?”

After about ten seconds of cooperative silence, Keith set Lance back on his feet. 

“ _Fine_ ! Only because I have an eagle eye.”

“I can attest to that.” Griffin was still sucking back laughter as though Keith’s stunt had made his day.

In conclusion, Keith would give Lance a boost to the top of the wall where he would serve as surveillance and talk to the men three-way by video chat. Meanwhile Keith and Griffin would go inside of the junkyard. Griffin went to the left side, while Keith took the right side. 

From what Lance could see after sitting himself comfortably, there was a vast acre of dirt that ran circular around a large pile of junk. Several car parts were strewn about, along with some motorcycle parts that looked like remnants of a handle or a seat. A chain rattled and echoed from a distance. 

“Guys, I think there’s a dog nearby. But it sounds like he’s on a chain _.”_

“Okay, but we need to know if he’s actually attached to that.” Keith breathed.

“I notice something moving from my left.” Griffin confirmed. 

Using Griffin’s binoculars, Lance scrolled and gasped as he saw a giant German Shepard on a chain, standing guard as if getting ready to confront whatever trespasser it could sense. 

“Guys, it  _is_ a dog! A really big Shepard!”

“Just my luck.” Griffin deadpanned.

“The good news is that it’s on a chain. Looks sturdy enough.”

The two men scavenged and surveyed the area for a while now, but there was still no sign of a gray Dodge. 

“Guys, I’m gonna text Hunk real quick and ask him if this car has a locator app or something. 

Griffin growled. “Why the hell didn’t we do that  _before_ we came all the way over here?”

Keith pursed his lips sadly. “It’s because of me. I lost sight of the small details by looking at the big picture.”

“We all kinda did.” Lance announced directly.

Within minutes, Hunk texted him back that it would only work if the car was on. 

“Shit. Guys, he said it does, but only if it’s turned on. Which is stupid as hell!” 

“Holy cow!” Keith started jogging ahead to what made his synapses fire off. By a corner was a Dodge Caravan, gray, with a bumper sticker of Garrison Academy on the back. “Guys, I think I found it…”

“Check the license plate.” Griffin insisted. 

“It has the Garrison sticker on it…”

“If you only  _knew_ how many of those car models drive up on campus everyday…”

Lance texted Hunk for the license model number, but Keith had already taken a picture of the plate and sent it to him. 

~~~~~

Hunk hugged the two girls as he confirmed the license plate as a match. He just hoped that everything was going to be okay and that the vehicle didn’t show any serious wear or tear. 

For the sake of being responsible, he urged the men to let him call the police and survey the car for damages, scuffs, possible explosives strapped to it. Stuff like that.

Too bad he still had the key…

~~~~~

“Mission accomplished!” Lance cheered. 

“Good work, men. “Griffin celebrated.

“Hunk wants us to call the cops and secure what we’ve found.”

“I’m actually all for it.” Keith refrained from leaning against the trunk and falling asleep right there.

The three ceased their happiness when they heard the sickening snap of metal crackling through the silent space. It couldn’t be…metal  _that_ strong should not have that type of problem. 

“Griffin, dog’s loose!” Panic burned Lance’s throat.

Keith looked up and saw Griffin sprinting away while a stream of curses shrieked from his mouth. Heavy barking followed the beleaguered soldier as dirt shuffled and made trails behind his moving form. 

Upon instinct, Keith immediately climbed to the hood of the van. “Griffin, get on!” Keith yelled.

Feet away from the car, the Garrison officer’s foot caught on a brick, sending him crashing into a giant cloud of dirt and rolling over a few times until he landed on his stomach. He could feel a small lump in his shirt pocket as the dog inched towards him. Whatever it was, he pulled it out and threw it blindly, causing the dog to chase it and eat it. 

Keith slid down from the hood and landed on his feet, holding out his hand to help Griffin up and pull him to his feet swiftly. They both made it back to safety.

“You saved me, Kogane.” Griffin smiled humbly, face and uniform streaked with dirt. 

“I couldn’t let an old peer die.” Keith side-eyed him sheepishly, no longer able to keep old memories of his brief time at the Garrison tucked away.

The dog that was relentless before it began to slow down and fall into a fit on the ground. 

~~~~~

“I’m so sorry!” I won’t ever let anyone get to you again!” Hunk spread to the front of the car and embraced it like a giant mystical pet animal. 

Deputy G had done one more once-over with the van and approved to be free of explosives and/or other stuff. Just some filthy wheels, with nothing of value stolen. 

“Looks like those little brats did this as a prank! Glad we caught em and booked em.” The deputy’s voice boomed in the middle of the junkyard. “You guys were lucky. I think they were deterred by that Garrison sticker. You know  _they_ don’t play around. 

Like Hunk, Deputy G had Samoan features of bulky build and naturally tall stature. Not just that, but he also wore a bandanna around his head? He had to ask his dad about their family tree when he got…never mind.

Speaking of Garrison, one look at Griffin’s disheveled appearance and Rachal rushed over to see what was up. He was sitting on a junky looking chair, hands buried in his face. Tonight he looked like life took him for a ride by an incredibly long rope and then cut the rope when it was done with his grip.

“What, or who, happened to you?”

It took very little time to notice that the man was stifling sobs. Finally he looked up, nose wrinkling and eyes filled to the brim with tears as his direction fell pitifully on the dog that was lying on the floor breathing rapidly. 

“I fed him the last piece of chocolate that you gave me.”

She covered her mouth with widened eyes. 

“He chased me with a violent bark, so I ran. He was definitely going to attack me. If I hadn’t thrown the candy, I would be gore mush.”

“Survival. Count your blessings that he, or she, didn’t kill you.” She rubbed his back as he started sobbing some more, “Chocolate in that small amount makes a big dog like that one sick, but it won’t kill him. Or her?

One of the police officers picked up the sick dog and gently set it in the backseat. 

As if tonight wasn’t enough by itself, the Garrison students and Keith were shocked to find out that not only was Red from the antique store one of the victims, but she was Griffin’s grandmother, General Maisy Guthrie. 

“I remember these guys. They’re angels. Brought me some good business…” her gaze immediately fell on Rachal. “Jesus, you two really  _could_ pass for each other if you traded clothes, and if your brother were to put on a wig. And that dress he wore…”

Lance laughed obnoxiously on purpose, hoping and praying that it was enough to drown out his little secret. 

Rachal noticed that the more she looked at Deputy M, the more he looked like he could have been their father’s cousin or something. Like a long-lost relative from Brooklyn or Italy, but with the same long, narrow face, hooked nose, and modest-sized eyes. 

“Yo, Akira!”

“What did I tell you about using our first name in public?”

“We are police deputies, not the “Men in Black” like this young lady puts it.” He went on to his point, ignoring the anger flashing in K’s voice. “When you get back to headquarters, let the little guy know that M wants a donut, heh? Better yet, get me the burger that’s made with two glazes, it he could please be a dear?”

Red stood surveying and smirking at the two officers. “Charles and Akira. I swear you two have not changed, especially you, Charles. 

“Is it just me, or did everyone and their mama go to that school?” Rachal crossed her arms and pondered to the sky.

~~~~~

After Hunk took Shay back to her family, he was going to go ahead and take the freeway home. He and Keith exchanged hugs and promised that they would hang out again after graduation, if not sooner. 

“Don’t forget, our big date is May 29th !”

“Count me there!” Keith joined Lance and Rachal in their family car.

They were now twenty minutes apart as Lance called him to say they were back at the University.

“Even with the whole vigilante-by-night thing, best day ever?” Lance looked back at Keith, who took a break from looking out of the backseat window to shoot Lance a smile. 

“Hell yeah.”

Rachal asked if she should turn into the main campus or housing. Keith wanted neither: a suburban neighborhood less than a minute away where a playground centered a neighborhood of two- and three-story homes. 

“Don’t tell me that all this real-world action made you want to be a kid again.” Lance complained.

Keith huffed. “Nope, not even. Came to pick up my girl.”

As the Mullet’s door closed behind him, hearing those words injected a crushing shock to Lance’s system and created a waterfall effect of disillusion. 

But Rachal had her head tilted, noticing that the park was rather empty this time of night.

“You okay, bro?”

“He has a girlfriend. Or worse, a child!” His awestruck face froze into a tight frown.  “I mean, that’s what you don’t find out till  _later_ when you’ve only known a guy for only one day!” his voice broke as he wrapped himself further into his cardigan.

But Rachal tapped him hard on the shoulder enough to make him look feet ahead, and there was Keith on the other side of the playground, tossing a sheet aside from something bulky.  

A motorbike. Mint condition, receiving the nod of approval after Mullet inspected it. He unlocked the vehicle and walked it back over to where Lance and Rachal were still parked. It was shiny on the main body, opaque on the upper layers. 

“Oh… _this_ is your “girl”?” 

Lance turned a deep shade of berry, Rachal’s snickering taunting his ears.

“Shut up,  _shut up!”_ he pinched his sister hard enough to make her yelp. 

“I’m telling mama you keep putting hands on me.” She left the driver’s seat for her open trunk. 

“Well…It’s truly been my pleasure. You guys take care of each other.”

“You heard that,  _gemelito_ ?”

As Lance saw Keith walk further away from the car, he notice his steps falter, as though remembering something he forgot. He had his notebook and his  _gloves,_ and his messenger bag… that balloon hippo…

What could he be missing?

Lance rolled down the window as Keith leaned over, eyes creased and smiling with joy.  

“Okay, what did you forget?” Lance raised a brow.

“This.”

With his leather gloved hand cupping his face, he leaned in and pressed his lips tenderly, yet firmly into his. 

The other boy returned the kiss, moving his lips in a steady rhythm. With what little strength he had swimming amongst lovely lightheadedness, he pulled Keith in closer while he ran his fingers through his ink black hair. 

As they pulled away ten seconds later, they both sighed deeply. Lance giggled. “What’s your number again?

“You already have it.  Keith walked away coolly despite him biting down a laugh and scarlet brushing his cheeks. He looked back at Lance. “Good night.” 

He waved to Rachal as he sped off, the vehicle making a loud thunder amongst the silence of late night.

The purr and roar of the engine as Keith drove away did little to quell the butterflies. If anything, they were now fluttering frantically against his stomach walls. He threw a verbal fit and buried his hot face giddily into his hands

Rachal returned to the driver’s seat and smiled like a fool for her helpless brother.

_J_ _ust ride the wave, bro. Ride the wave_ …she mused to herself while starting the engine to go home. 

 

 

 

 


	6. "It's Over"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graduation time! And mixed feelings about what's to come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all she wrote! :)
> 
> To be honest, I felt like I was vicariously graduating while I was writing the epilogue to this, because I'm gonna miss writing this story. It's my very first Voltron/Klance fic that I've written, but I have since started and completed others that you can check out here.
> 
> Thanks to all of you who have given this fanfic a read ♡ 
> 
> If you have any questions about my writing or just wanna talk, I'm also at Tumblr at tealrainbeau.tumblr.com

June arrived like a blur overall, though at times dragged on frame by frame. Many cadets were scattered around the campus in color coded conformity while holding back their enthusiasm for the upcoming graduation ceremony.

And Lance was sitting next to the flagpole rushing the tail end of his phone call with Keith before final inspection.

“Catch you later, babe! Don't forget to come in on the right side of the campus, not the left!” 

_"Alright, consider it committed to memory."_

They bid each other a sweet goodbye and Lance exhaled as the energy of an officer rolled into his juju. 

What did Griffin want this time?

Except it wasn’t Griffin. It was big sis.

“At ease, cadet. Griffin’s not here until later.”

“Oh, what a relief it is!” Lance folded his arms with a vindicated swirl in his frown.

“Can’t you two ever  _pretend_ to get along?” Veronica raised an eyebrow at him and turned around back to business as usual. 

It would most likely never happen. Not even if he became part of the family in some weird plot twist. Not in Lance's world. 

And of course he expected Griffin would be front and center at the ceremony for one last show of pomp and circumstance.

Hunk came down the hall halfway skipping, a panicked look crawling in his face as he came to Lance. 

"What did you lose?" Lance crossed his arms. 

But Hunk answered his friend with something a little more witty than he was used to saying, "My marbles! I knew the big day was coming eventually, just not in the span of a few days or so..."

"We got this. Your Valedictorian speech is gonna be epic! Just try not to recite it word for word or you'll  drive yourself batshit crazy."

Lance always had a point. If it weren't for this guy, he would probably be choking and sputtering random languages throughout his academic career.

With the reverie sounding through the intercoms, Lance gathered his rifle as the two of them met up for roll call and final inspection. 

~~~~~

The ceremony was a rather swift two hours long. It started with every graduating cadet walking in line down the field and Lance sneaking a corner smirk to his family. Hunk waved modestly as if he were in the middle of a parade.

The rifle brigade practiced their routine with a few twirls included and thankfully Lance could have done this entire process in his sleep, nerves and all. 

Rachal gave Keith a knowing grin in the bleachers as the college boy stared on in awe of his dexterity. 

"Damn." he uttered under his breath with a flood of red in his cheeks.

Rachal whispered to him, "Dude, you know we were both members of our school's color guard in sixth grade, before he transferred to this school. This is probably nothing to him."  

His boyfriend's twin spoke with a tone that was neither mocking nor devious. Sometimes he could catch what sounded like dusts of pride and nostalgia in her tone.

"Color guard, huh?" He smirked with a raised eyebrow. 

~~~~~

After more speeches from the senior officers and other adult members of the Garrison, Hunk finally took his turn to speak to the graduating cadets, and used what little time he had left to go off of memory, with a little improvisation. 

"These past four years have been rigorous and eye opening for all of us cadets. And for some of us, even more so if you have been here for the past six, like this cadet has since the age of twelve. 

This cadet has learned more about order and honor here at Garrison than ever in life. These principals have never been to restrict us, they have solely been here to guide our inner light. The world outside can and will be filled with moments that are so bright that our eyes will hurt if we can't adjust them. And at times so dark and dank that we will wonder if we can see our own two hands. 

He permitted himself silence as both cadets and community members glanced downward in response to his last sentence.  

"Luckily, there are more likely than not times where light and darkness will collide and give us the answers we need as long as we keep our eyes, minds and hearts open. Congratulations to the Garrison Military Charter School class of 2019!"

A large applause rang through the outdoor auditorium, and Hunk peered into the kaleidoscope of people in the audience who were clapping persistently. The students in their uniformed neutrals all gave him a standing ovation. Lance subtly wiped the corner of his eye with his knuckle and granted an OK with his other hand.

The applause died down in a wave. 

General Iverson called each junior officer to the stage to present the diplomas to the graduating class. Rachal saw James in his full officer attire, pressed and fitted well, and just now found herself borrowing Keith's fan even though it was already climbing to ninety degrees despite the clouds. 

They sat until all names were called. It was a class of four hundred:

_Cadet Anitelumale "Hunk" Garrett_

Both the Garretts and McClains erupted with the most jubilant of cheers, with Shay screaming the loudest and the most high-pitched.

"Get 'em, Hunkules!" Rachal cried out, eliciting laughter from Hunk's mother and niece.

Now Keith understood after hearing his name ’ s elaborate pronunciation why he insisted on being called "Hunk"

The larger boy waved mildly with the largest smile framing his cheeks.

_Cadet Lance Ruiz McClain_

"Yeah, Lance!" Keith leaned over the railing like Lance was far away. 

"Go, bro!"  Rachal rapidly waved her hands.

The boy looked towards the crowd with a sparkling smile and playful throws of kisses. 

~~~~~

The ceremony was concluded, and the cadets stayed behind for an hour or less on the auditorium field to meet up with their now former staff members. They were offering the young people well wishes and letting them know that there would always be a place at the Garrison for them. Many of them tossed around affections that were repressed while they were their superior officers.

Their families were escorted to the courtyard where a catered lunch and refreshments were being served.

"Hate to admit it, but I'm actually gonna miss these stomping grounds." Lance uttered with a wiggle of his top lip while taking a final view of the Garrison's large courtyard towers and the fountain where he and Hunk first met and grew together.

"Don't tell me you're suffering from separation anxiety already, buddy."

"Nostalgia."

Veronica slid up to both of them, smiling slyly at him. "When you graduate from University and eventually have to move back home, there will be a job here as officer waiting for you."

"Granted you or Griffin don't stay until retirement."

"FYI, they are always hiring for junior officers." She winked. But Lance caught a glimmer in her eyes, which was the same one that she tried to hide as she was inspecting him and the others for the very last time. 

"I'm proud of you, peanut."

"Thanks, sis."

The two McClain siblings and Hunk relocated to the front courtyard in order to meet up with the rest of their families. 

And as they found the food spread with the Congratulations banner rising overhead, all three of their glances honed in at the same time on the sight next to the fat tree where the boys once hung out as baby cadets eating lunch. 

Rachal was standing in front of James Griffin with a leg crossed in front of her, hands folded neatly behind her back. The officer stood with his head tilted and hand perched on his hips. She smiled and nodded eagerly in her halter jumpsuit while the impeccably dressed officer returned the nod. 

Lance and Veronica shared a deadpanned expression with raised eyebrows, both siblings hiding behind a dried up water fountain to proclaim their stealth and to process what was happening. 

"And what do we have here?" Lance frowned with his mouth in a straight line. 

"Wanna bet $20 that they're gonna end up dating this summer?" Veronica suggested way too giddily for Lance's own good. 

"I'd rather bet my  _life_ that they go their separate, happy little ways and NOT take whatever  _this_ is any further!"

"There you are."

The two hopped up sharply and turned around to find Keith waiting with Hunk. 

"We found our families, they're over at one of the larger tables waiting for us before they eat."

"Is that Rachal and Griffin?" Keith squinted in discovery.

Lance huffed a thick sigh. "Okay, Ronnie, bet's on!"

"Now, when you say  _your life_ ...do you mean..."

"We'll discuss it later!" Lance shuffled his feet in a 180 degree military turn and marched towards his mother, who was talking with Mrs. Garrett. 

~~~~~

That evening on the Garrett's patio, Shay told Hunk that she would always be around to hang out this summer, as long as she wasn't called in to see her grandmother, who had still been bedridden for a while. 

Hunk went with Shay to visit sometime last month and she seemed to be getting better, but he insisted Shay put her first whenever possible.

"Class of 2023, majoring in Engineering."

His gaze rose to the tangerine hopefulness of the sky whose clouds were cirrus matters of beauty.

"I like the idea of you and me. No. The  _reality_ of you and me."

"Let's make these four years awesome! And we'll do that by taking each day one at a time. 

"And by making monthly dates to spend at La La Land."

Hunk returned her confident smile as they kissed.

"OOH! I'm telling!" his niece walked away casually with her lips curled into a mischievous smirk.

"Jess! Really?!" Hunk tossed up his hands in frustration with steam blowing from his nose, bringing Shay to a bashful chuckle.

His girlfriend whispered, "You can live with us if you want. Mom said so!"

"I might get some bags packed this summer, then. Tell my parents I love them, and set out on the open road." He stared blissfully out into space. 

~~~~~

"Back deep in the heart of Texas this summer, huh?"

Lance understood, but could not quite conceal the sadness rippling in his heart. And looking at Keith's distant sigh did not make it any easier.

"I really wouldn't do it if my Mom weren't there. I spoke to her doctor over the phone last month, she  _did_ tell me her system's demonstrating signs of remission. But my dad's been a little more MIA, I don't know..."

"Keep the faith." Lance touched his shoulder.

"On a less serious note, I'll send pictures to you when it's humid and I'm wearing my short sleeve and sleeveless shirts."

"Are you gonna model for me?" The boy bounced a little and clasped his hands together.

"Yeah, why not? Anything to tide you over until we meet again on campus this Fall."

Lance finally decided to declare going to school for Communications. And Keith had one more year to go with his Aeronautics program after this. 

"But you never know: might catch the eye of some upper class girl or guy that I'll have to fight off with a stick."

Keith leaned with a playful menace into him, "You'd better tell them that your boyfriend rides, and that he has a mean ass tattoo of a sword on his right bicep.

"You mean  _this bicep_ ?" He rubbed his hand across the embossed pattern that the ink needle made, eliciting a proud smile from the guy.

They subtly smacked lips a couple of times, then broke away touching foreheads. 

"Lots of pic and vids, got it?"

"Promise."

~~~~~

In suburbia, the festive stir of summer celebrations and parties saturated the air. Most driveways had clusters of parked cars extending outside to the curbs. 

A grey and black Convertible inched up to the curb, took its time gliding into the right spot.

Griffin's’ heart bounced heavily as he climbed  out and he leaned against the car window, hand perched against his hip, smile brushing his face. 

The girl with the dark chestnut bounciness curtaining down her shoulders approached his car and moved past him, subtle seductiveness evident in her smile and gaze.  Once she straightened her jumpsuit and sat down, he closed the door, making sure she was comfortable before returning to his driver’s window.

“What was your excuse?” James prodded.

“Pre-graduation party. You?”

“Rest of the day off.” 

“I brought them.”

James rubbed his hands together like an expectant child going to the fair and sounded an unexpected “yes” upon seeing the package of dark chocolate trouble that Rachal bought on their last car ride.

“Damn, you’re a  _dork_ .” Rachal fought back a giggle, rolling her eyes in amusement.

“And you look really pretty today.” James looked at her with a sincerity that would have scared her if his eyes weren’t so damn gentle.

“Thanks, soldier. You’re looking sharp yourself.” Rachal internalized her giddiness as she took in his dark-washed jeans, white t-shirt with sunglasses clipped on the collar, and gray and black bomber jacket. 

After James asked her if she was ready to go, the familiar trigger word grated on the back of her neck yet again.

“Seat belt.”

The girl fumed under her breath about how she had technically been driving since she was twelve, and didn't need anyone telling her how to sit in a damn car. Furthermore, she fantasized about choking this man with his own seat belt.

But James uttered a hearty laugh, which caused her colorful thoughts to dash away instantly. 

“ _Your face_ whenever I say that…” The way her mouth pouted diagonally and her eyelids shielded her bubbling blues. It was endearing to him. 

As he drove away from the curb, their small argument continued:

“I don’t make a damn face.”

“You don’t even  _know_ when you’re doing it.”

~~~~~

And all the while, Lance stared at the pair from the living room window wearing a sullen pout, arms crossed squarely in front of his chest like a little child discovering there's no Easter Bunny. 

"Do you see this shit, Apple Jack?"

Hunk tried to console and appeal to him from the comfort of his Face Chat. "Look on the bright side, he could be one of those "chicken heads" from her school, as my mom calls 'em. "

Veronica held out her hand, rubbing her fingers together  “ I win,  _peanut."_

He growled stubbornly, fishing a crumpled bill from his pocket and smashing it into Veronica's palm.  "I'm still betting my life!"

 

~The end~

 


End file.
